Mary of Burgundy, or, The revolt of Ghent

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MARY OF BURGUNDY

THE REVOLT OF GHENT

By G. P. R. JAMES

AUTHOR OF RICHELIEU

" Thou wouldst te great,
Art not without ambition, but without
The illness should attend it. What thou wouldst highly
That thou wouldst holily ; wouldst not play false,
And yet wouldst wrongly win." — Macbeth.

LONDON
GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS

THE BROADWAY, LUDGATE
NEW YORK : 9, LAFAYETTE PLACE

G. P. R. JAMES'S NOVELS.

The Brigand

Morley Ernstein

Darnley

Richelieu

The Gipsy

Arabella Stuart

The Woodman

Agincourt

Russell

The King's Highway

The Castle of Ehrenstein

The Stepmother

Forest Days

The Huguenot

The Man at Arms

A Whim and its Consequences

Henry Masterton

The Convict

Mary of Burgundy

Gowrie

Delaware

Henry of Guj£<9

The Robber

One in a Thousand

The Smuggler

De L'Orme

Heidelberg

The False Heir

Castleneau

The Forgery

The Gentleman «( Se Old

School
Philip Augustus
The Black Eagle
The Old Dominion
Eeaujhamp
Arraii Neil
My Aunt Pontypool

MARY OF BURGUNDY :

OE,

THE REVOLT OF GHENT.

CHAPTER I.

Ix was on the evening of a beautiful day in the beginning of Septem-
ber, 1456 — one of those fair autumn days that wean us, as it were,
from the passing summer, with the light as bright, and the sky as
full of rays, as in the richest hours pf June ; and with nothing but a
scarce perceptible shade of yellow in the woods to tell that it is not
the proudest time of the year's prime. It was in the evening, as I
have said ; but nothing yet betokened darkness. The sun had glided
a considerable way on his descent down the bright arch of the western
sky, yet without one ray being shadowed, or any lustre lost. He
had reached that degree of declination alone, at which his beams,
pouring from a spot a little above the horizon, produced, as they
streamed over forest and hill, grand masses of light and shade, with
every here and there a point of dazzling brightness, where the clear
evening rays were reflected from stream or lake.

It was in the heart of a deep forest, too, whose immemorial trees,
worn away by time, or felled by the axe, left in various places wide
open spaces of broken ground and turf, brushwood and dingle, — and
amidst whose deep recesses a thousand spots rich in woodland beauty
lay hidden from the eye of man. Those were not, indeed, times when
taste and cultivation had taught the human race to appreciate fully
all the charms and magnificence wherewith nature's hand has robed
the globe which we inhabit ; and the only beings that then trod the
deeper glades of the forest were the woodman, the hunter, or those less
fortunate persons who — as we see them represented by the wild pencil
of Salvator Rosa — might greatly increase the picturesque effect of the
scenes they frequented ; but, probably, did not particularly feelit them-
selves. But there is, nevertheless, in the heart of man, a native sense
of beauty, a latent sympathy, a harmony with all that is lovely on
the earth, which makes him unconsciously seek out spots of peculiar
sweetness, not only for his daily dwelling, but also for both his tem-
porary resting place, and for the mansion of his long repose, whether
the age or the country be rude or not.

Look at the common cemetery of a village, and you will generally
find that it is pitched in the most picturesque spot to be found in the
neighbourhood. If left to his free will, the peasant will almost
always — without well knowing why — build his cottage where he may
have something fair or bright before his eyes ; and the very herd,

O MARY OF BURGUNDY.

while watching his cattle or his sheep, climbs up the face of the crag,
to sit and gaze over the fair expanse of Nature's face.

It was in the heart of a deep forest, then, at the distance at nearly
twenty miles from Louvain, that a boy of about twelve yews of age,
was seen sleeping by the side of a small stream ; which, daMiing over
a high rock hard by, gathered its bright waters in a deep bakin at the
foot, and then rushed, clear and rapidly, through the green turf
beyond. The old trees of the wood were scattered abroad from the
stream, as if to let the little waterfall sparkle at its will in the sun-
shine. One young ash tree, alone, self-sown by the side of the river,
waved over the boy's head, and cast a dancing veil of chequered light
and shade upon features as fair as eye ever looked upon.

At about a hundred yards from the spot where he was lying, a
sandy road wound through the savannah, and plunged into the deeper
parts of the wood. On the other side, however, the ground being of
a more open nature, the path might be seen winding up the steep
ascent of a high hill, with the banks, which occasionally flanked it to
the east, surmounted by long lines of tall overhanging trees.

A rude bridge of stone, whose ruinous condition spoke plainly how
rarely the traveller's foot trod the path through the forest, spanned
over the stream at a little distance. And the evening light, aB it
poured in from the west, caught bright upon the countenance of the
sleeping boy, upon the dancing cascade above his head, upon many a
flashing turn in the river, and, after gilding the ivy that mantled the
old bridge, passed on to lose itself gradually in the gloom of the deep
masses of forest-ground beyond.

The dress of the sleeper accorded well with the scene in which he
■was found ; it consisted of a full coat, of forest-green, gathered round
his waist by a broad belt, together with the long tight hose common
at the period. In his belt was a dagger and knife ; and on his head
he had no covering, except the glossy curls of his dark brown hair.
Though the material of his garments was of the finest cloth which
the looms of Ypres could produce, yet marks of toil, and even of
■trife, were apparent in the dusty and torn state of his habiliments.

He lay, however, in that calm, deep, placid sleep, only known to
youth, toil, and innocence. His breath was so light, and his slumber
was so calm, that he might have seemed dead, but for the rosy hue of
health that overspread his cheeks. No sound appeared at first to
have any effect upon his ear, though, while he lay beside the stream,
a wild, timid stag came rustling through the brushwood to drink of
its waters, and suddenly seeing a human thing amidst the solitude of
the forest, bounded quick away through the long glades of the wood.
After that, the leaves waved over him, and the wind played with the
curls of his hair for nearly half an hour, without any living creature
approaching to disturb his repose. At the end of that time, some
moving objects made their appearance at the most distant point of
the road that was visible, where it sunk over the hill. At first, all
that could be seen was a dark body moving forward down the ascent,
enveloped in a cloud of dust ; but, gradually, it separated into dis-
tinct parts, find assumed the form of a party of armed horsemen.
Their number might be ten or twelve ; and, by the slowness of their
motions, it seemed that they had already travelled far. More than
once, as they descended the slope, they paused, and appeared to gaze

MABT OF BURGUNDY. 7

over the country, as if either contemplating its beauty, or doubtful of
the road they ought to take. These pauses, however, always ended
in their resuming their way towards the spot which we have de-
scribed. When they at length reached it, they again drew the rein;
and it became evident, that uncertainty, with regard to their onward
course, had been the cause of their several halts upon the hill.

" By my faith, Sir Thibalt of Neufchatel," said one of the horsemen,
who rode a little in advance of the others, "for Marshal of Burgundy,
you know but little of your lord's dominions. By the Holy Virgin !
methinks that you are much better acquainted with every high-road
and by-path of my poor appanage of Dauphiny. At least, so the
worthy burghers of Vienne were wont to assert, when we would fain
have squeezed the double crowns out of their purses. It was then
their invariable reply that the Marshal of Burgundy had been upon
them with his lances, and drained them as dry as hay: coming no
one knew how, and going no one knew where."

The man who spoke was yet not only in his prime, but in the early
part of that period of life which is called middle age. There was no
peculiar beauty in his countenance nor in his person ; there was
nothing, apparently, either to strike or to please. Yet it was impos-
sible to stand before him, and not to feel one's self — without very well
knowing why — in the presence of an extraordinary man. There was
in his deportment to be traced the evident habit of command. He
spoke as if knowing his words were to be obeyed. But that was not
all ; from underneath the overhanging penthouse of his thick eyebrows
shone forth two keen grey eyes, which had in them a prying, inqui-
sitive cunning, which seemed anxiously exerted to discover at once
the thoughts of those they gazed upon, before any veil, of the many
which man uses, could be drawn over motives or feelings, to conceal
them from that searching glance.

Those given to physiognomy might have gathered, from his high
and projecting, but narrow forehead, the indications of a keen and
observing mind, with but little imagination, superstition without fancy,
and talent without wit. The thin, compressed lips, the naturally firm-
set posture of the teeth, the curling line from the nostril to the corner
of the mouth, might have been construed to imply a heart naturally
cruel, which derived not less pleasure from inflicting wounds by bitter
words than from producing mere corporeal pain. His dress, at this
time of his life, was splendid to excess; and the horse on which he
rode showed the high blood that poured through its veins, by a degree
of fire and energy far superior to that exhibited by the chargers of his
companions, though the journey it had performed was the same which
had so wearied them.

As he spoke the words before detailed, he looked back to a gentle-
man, who rode a step or two behind him on his right hand ; and on
his countenance appeared, what he intended to be, a smile of frank,
good-humoured raillery. The natural expression of his features
mingled with it nevertheless, and gave it an air of sarcasm which
made the bitter, perhaps, preponderate over the sweet.

The person to whom he addressed himself, however, listened with
respectful good humour. " In truth, my lord," he replied, " so little
have I dwelt in this part of the duke's dominions that I know my way
less than many a footboy. I once was acquainted with every rood of

8 MAIIY OF BURGDNDT.

ground between Brussels and Tirlemont ; but, God be thanked, my
memory is short, and I have forgotten it all, as readily as 1 hope you,
sir, may forget certain marches in Dauphiny, made when Louis the
Dauphin was an enemy to Burgundy instead of an honoured guest."

" They are forgotten, Lord Marshal, they are forgotten," replied the
Dauphin — afterwards famous as Louis XI. — " and can never more be
remembered but to show me how much more pleasant it is to have
the Lord of Neufchatel for a friend rather than an enemy. But, in
Heaven's name," he added, changing the subject quickly, " before we
go farther, let us seek some one to show us the way, or let us halt our
horses here, and wait for the fat citizens of Ghent, whom we left on
the other side of the river."

His companion shook his head with a doubtful smile, as he replied,
" It would be difficult, I trow, to find any guide here, unless Saint
Hubert, or some other of the good saints, were to send us a white stag
with a collar of gold round his neck to lead us safely home, as the old
legends tell us they used to do of yore."

" The saints have heard your prayer, my lord," cried one of the
party who had strayed a little to the left, but not so far as to be out
of hearing of the conversation which was passing between the other
two ; " the saints have heard your prayer ; and here is the white stag
in the form of a fair boy in a green jerkin."

As he spoke, he pointed forward with his hand towards the little
cascade, where the boy, who had been sleeping by its side, had now
started up, awakened by the sound of voices, and of horses' feet, and
was gazing on the travellers with anxious eyes, and with his hand
resting on his dagger.

" Why, how now, boy!" cried the Dauphin, spurring up towards the
stream. " Thinkest thou that we are Jews, or cut-throats, or wild men
of the woods, that thou clutchest thy knife so fearfully? Say, canst
thou tell how far we are from Tirlemont ?"

The boy eyed the party for several moments ere he replied. "How
should I know whether you be cut-throats or not?" he said at length;
" I have seen cut-throats in as fine clothes. How far is it from Tir-
lemont ? As far as it is from Liege or Namur."

" Then, by my troth, Sir Marshal," said the Dauphin, turning to
his companions, "our horses will never carry us thither this night.
What is to be done ?"

" What is the nearest town or village, boy?" demanded the Marshal
of Burgundy. " If we be at equal distance from Namur and Liege
and Tirlemont, we cannot be far from Hannut."

" Hannut is the nearest place," answered the boy ; " but it is two
hours' ride for a tired horse."

"We will try it, however," said the Marshal; and then added,
turning to the Dauphin, "the lord of the castle of Hannut, sir, though
first cousin of the bad Duke of Gueldress, is a noble gentleman as
ever lived ; and I can promise you a fair reception. Though once a
famous soldier, he has long cast by the lance and casque ; and, buried
deep in studies — which churchmen say are hardly over holy — he
passes his whole time in solitude, except when some ancient friend
breaks in upon his reveries. Such a liberty I may well take. Now,
boy, tell us our road, and there is a silver piece for thy pains."

The boy stooped not to raise the money which the Marshal threw

MARY OF BURGUNDY. 9

towards him, but replied eagerly, " If any one will take me oh the
croup behind him, I will show you easily the way. Nay, I beseech
you, noble lords, take me with you; for I am wearied and alone, and
I must lie in the forest all night if you refuse me."

" But dost thou know the way well, my fair boy ?" demanded the
Dauphin, approaching nearer, and stooping over his saddle-bow to
speak to the boy with an air of increasing kindness. " Thou art se
young, methinks thou scarce canst know all the turnings of a wood
like this. Come, let us hear if thy knowledge is equal to the task of
guiding us?"

" That it is," answered the boy at once. " The road is as easy to
find as a heron's nest on a bare tree. One has nothing to do but to
follow on that road over the bridge, take the two first turnings to the
right, and then the next to the left, and at the end of a league more
the castle is in sight."

" Ay," said the Dauphin, " is it so easy as that ? Then, by my faith,
I think we can find it ourselves. Come, Sir Marshall, come !" And,
so saying, he struck his spurs into his horse's sides, and cantered
over the bridge.

The Marshal of Burgundy looked back with a lingering glance of
compassion at the poor boy thus unfeelingly treated by his com-
panion. But, as the Prince dashed forward and waved his hand for
him to follow, he rode on also, though not without a muttered com-
ment on the conduct of the other, which might not have given great
pleasure had it been vented aloud. The whole train followed ; and,
left alone, the boy stood silent, gazing on them as they departed, with
a flushed cheek and a curling lip. " Out upon the traitors !" he ex-
claimed at length. " All men are knaves ; yet it is but little honour
to their knavery, to cheat a boy like me."

The train wound onward into the wood, and the last horseman was
soon hidden from his eyes ; but the merry sound of laughing voices,
borne by the wind to his ear for some moments after they were out of
sight, spoke painfully how little interest they took in his feelings or
situation.

He listened till all was still, and then, seating himself on the bank
of the stream, gazed vacantly on the bubbling waters as they rushed
hurriedly by him; while the current of his own thoughts held as
rapid and disturbed a course. As memory after memory of many a
painful scene and sorrow — such as infancy has seldom known — came
up before his sight, his eyes filled, the tears rolled rapidly over his
cheeks, and, casting himself prostrate on the ground, he hid his face
amongst the long grass, and sobbed as if his heart would break.

He had not lain there long, however, when a heavy hand, laid firmly
on his shoulder, caused him once more to start up ; and, though the
figure which stood by him when he did so, was not one whose aspect
was very prepossessing, yet it would be difficult to describe the sudden
lightning of joy that sparkled in his eyes through the tears with which
they still overflowed.

The person who had roused him from the prostrate despair in which
he had cast himself down, was a middle-sized, broad-made man, with
long sinewy arms, and a chest like that of a mountain-bull. He might
be nearly forty years of age; and his face, which had once been fair,
a fact which was vouched alone by his light brown hair, and clear

10 MARY OF BURGUNDY.

blue eye, had now reached a hue nearly approaching to the colour of
mahogany, by constant exposure to the summer's sun and the winter's
cold. There was in it, withal, an expression of daring hardihood,
softened, and, as it were, purified by a frank, free, good-humoured
smile, which was not without a touch of droll humour. His garb at
once bespoke him one of those vagrant sons of Mars, with whom war,
in some shape, was a never-failing trade ; a class of which we must
speak more hereafter, and which the abuses of the feudal system, the
constant feuds of chieftain with chieftain, and the long and desolating
warfare between France and England, had at that time rendered but
too common in every part of Europe. He was not, indeed, clothed
from head to heel in cold iron, as was customary with the knight or
raan-at arms when ready for the field ; but there was quite a sufficient
portion of old steel about his person, in the form of arms both offen-
sive and defensive, to show that hard blows were the principal mer-
chandise in which he traded.

He laid his large hairy hand, as I have said, firmly and familiarly
on the boy's shoulder ; and the expression of the young wanderer's
countenance, when he started up, and beheld the person who stood
near him, at once showed, not only that they were old acquaintances,
but that their meeting was both unexpected and joyful.

" Matthew Gournay !" exclaimed the boy, "good Matthew Gournay,
is it you indeed? Oh, why did you not come before? With your
fifty good lances, we might yet have held the castle out, till we were
joined by the troops from Utrecht; but now all is lost, the castle taken,
and my father "

" I know it all, Master Hugh," interrupted the soldier ; " I know it
all better than the paternoster. Bad news flies faster than a swallow;
so I know it all, and a good deal more than you yourself know. You
ask, why I did not come too. By our Lady ! for the simplest reason
in the world — because I could not. I was lying like an old rat in a
trap, with four stone walls all round about me, in the good city of
Liege. Duke Philip heard of the haste I was making to give you
help, and, and cogged with the old bishop — may his skull be broken!
— to send out a couple of hundred reitters to intercept us on our
march. What would you have ? We fought like devils, but we were
taken at a disadvantage, by a superior force. All my gallant fellows
were killed or dispersed ; and at last, finding my back against a rock,
and six spears at my breast, and not loving the look of such a kind of
toasting-fork, I agreed to take lodging in the town prison of Liege."

" But how got you out, then?" demanded the boy; " did they free
you for good- will?"

" Not they," replied Matthew Gournay: " they gave me cold water
and hard bread, and vowed every day to stick my head upon the gate
of the town, as a terror to all marauders, as they said. But the fools
showed themselves rank burghers, by leaving me my arms ; and I
soon found means to get the iron bars out of the windows, ventured a
leap of thirty feet, swam the ditch, climbed the wall, and here I am
in the forest of Hannut. But not alone, Master Hugh. 1 have got a
part of my old comrades together already, and hope soon to have a
better band than ever. The old seneschal, too, from the castle, is with
us, and from him we heard all the bad news. But, though he talked
»f murder and putting to death, and flaying alive, and vowed that

MABY OF BUKGUNDT. 11

everybody in the castle had been killed but himself, I got an inkling
from the old charcoal-burner's wife, at the hut in the wood, of how
you had escaped, and whither you had gone. So, thinking, as you were
on foot and alone, that you might want help and a horse, I tracked
you like a deer to this place : for your father was always a good friend
to me in the time of need ; and I will stand by you, Master Hugh,
while I have a hand for my sword, or a sword for my hand."

"Hark!" cried the boy, almost as the other spoke ; "there's a bugle
on the hill! It must be the duke's butchers following me."

"A bugle!" cried the soldier; "a cow's-horn blown by a sow-driver,
you mean. None of the duke's bugles ever blew a blast like that,
something between the groaning of a blacksmith's bellows and the
grunting of a hog. But there they are," he continued, "sure enough,
lances and all, as I live. We must to cover, Hugh, we must to cover!
Quick — thy hand, boy — they are coming down, straggling like fallow
deer!"

So saying, Matthew Gournay sprang up the high bank, in falling
over which the little stream formed the cascade we have noticed ; and
as he climbed the rock himself, he assisted, or rather dragged up after
him, his young companion, whose hand he held locked in his own,
with a grasp which no slight weight could have unbent.

For a moment, they paused on the top of the crag, to take another
look at the approaching party, and then plunged into the long shrubs
and tangled brushwood that clothed the sides of the winding glen,
down which the stream wandered previous to its fall.

CHAPTER H

The party, whose approach had interrupted the conversation of
Matthew Gournay and his young companion, were not long before
they reached the little open spot in the forest, from which they had
scared the other two ; and, as it was at that point that their road first
fell in with the stream, they paused for a moment, to water their horses
ere they proceeded. Their appearance and demeanour corresponded
well with the peculiar sound of the horn which they had blown upon
the hill ; for though the instrument which announced their approach
was martial in itself, yet the sounds which they produced from it
were anything but military ; and though swords and lances, casques
and breastplates, were to be seen in profusion amongst them, there
vas scarcely one of the party who had not a certain burgher rotun-
dity of figure, or negligence of gait, far more in harmony with furred
gowns and caps a la mortier, than with war-steeds and glittering arms.

The first, who paused beside the stream, had nearly been thrown
over his horse's head, by the animal suddenly bending his neck to
drink; and it was long before the rider could sufficiently compose
himself again in the saddle, to proceed with some tale which he had
been telling to one of his companions, who urged him to make an end
of his story, with an eagerness which seemed to show that the matter
was one of great interest to him at least.

" Well-a-day, Master Nicholas, well-a-day!" cried the discomposed
horseman, " let me but settle myself on my stool — saddle, I mean.
God forgive me! but this cursed beast has pulled the bridle out of my

12 MAHY OF BURGUNDY.

hands. So ho! Bernard, so ho! — there, there, surely thou couldst
drink without bending thy head so low."

While he thus spoke, by a slow and cautious movement — not unlike
that with which a child approaches a sparrow, to perform the difficult
task of throwing salt upon its tail — he regained a grasp <& the bridle-
rein which the horse had twitched out of his hand, and then went on
with his story, interrupting it, however, every now and then, to address
sundry admonitions to his horse, somewhat in the following style : — ■

"Well, where was I, worthy Master Nicholas? I was saying — so ho!
beast ! The devil's in thee : thou wilt have me into the river. I was
saying that, after the castle was taken, and every soul put to the sword,
even the poor boy, Hugh — for which last, I hear, the duke is very
much grieved — be quiet, Bernard, hold up thy head! — Count Adolphus
himself fled away by a postern-door, and is now a prisoner in — "

" Nay, but, Master Martin, you said they were all put to death," in-
terrupted one of his companions.

"Kemember what the doctors say," replied the other; "namely,
that there is no general rule without its exception, They were all
killed but those who ran away, which were only Count Adolphus and
his horse, who got away together, the one upon the other. Fool that
he was to trust himself upon a horse's back! It was his ruin, alack!
it was his ruin."

"How so?" demanded Master Nicholas; "did the horse throw him
and break his pate ? Methought you said, but now, that he was alive
and a prisoner."

"And I said truly, too," answered the other. "Nevertheless, his
mounting that horse was the cause of his ruin ; for though he got ofl
quietly enough, yet, at the bridge below Namur — where, if he had
had no horse, he would have passed free — he was obliged to stop to
pay pontage* for his beast. A priest, who was talking with the toll-
man, knew him ; and he was taken on the spot, and cast into prison."

"Methinks it was more the priest's fault than the horse's then," re-
plied Master Nicholas ; but whoever it was that betrayed him, bad
was the turn they did to the city of Ghent ; for, what with his aid,
and that of the good folks of Gueldres, and the worthy burghers of
Utrecht, we might have held the proud duke at bay, and wrung our
rights from him drop by drop, like water from a sponge."

"God knows, God knows!" replied Martin Fruse, the burgher of
Ghent, to whom this was addressed; "God knows ! it is a fine thing
to have one's rights, surely; but, somehow, I thought we were very
comfortable and happy in the good old city, before there was anj
quarrel about rights at all. Well I know we have never been happy
since ; and I have been forced to ride on horseback by the week to-
gether ; for which sin my flesh and skin do daily penance, as the
chirurgeons of Namur could vouch if they would. Nevertheless, one
must be patriotic, and all that, so I would not grumble, if this beast
would but give over drinking, which I think he will not do before hp

* Philip de Comines, who relates this anecdote much in the same terms as thos'
osed by good Martin Fruse in the text, places it, however, several years later ; though,
from the period of time during which Adolphus Duke of Gueldres, here called Count
Adolphus, was kept in prison by the Duke of Burgundy, it would seem that the time
of his capture is here correctly stated.

MARY OF BUKGUNDF. JS

or I drop down dead. Here, horse-boy, come and pluck his nose out
of the pool ; for I cannot move him more than I could the town -house."

The worthy burgher was soon relieved from his embarrassments ;
and his horse being once more put upon the road, he led the way on-
ward, followed by the rest of the party, with their servants and at-
tendants. The place of leader was evidently conceded to good Martin
Fruse; but this distinction was probably assigned to him, more on
account of his wealth and integrity, than from the possession of fine
wit, great sense, energetic activity, or any other requisite for a popu-
lar leader. He was, in truth, a worthy, honest man, somewhat easily
persuaded, especially where his general vanity, and, more particularly,
his own opinion of his powers as a politician, were brought into play:
but his mind was neither very vigorous nor acute ; though sometimes
an innate sense of rectitude, and a hatred of injustice, would lend
energy to his actions, and eloquence to his words.

Amongst those who followed him, however, were two or three
spirits of a higher order ; who, without his purity of motives, or kindly
disposition, possessed far greater talents, activity, and vigour. Never-
theless, turbulent by disposition and by habit, few of the burghers of
Ghent, at that time, possessed any very grand and general views,
whether directed to the assertion of the liberties and rights of their
country, or to the gratification of personal ambition. They contented
themselves with occasional tumults, or with temporary alliances with
the other states and cities in the low countries, few of which rested
long without being in open rebellion against their governors.

One of the party, however, which accompanied good Martin Fruse
must not pass unmentioned ; for, at that time acting no prominent
part, he exerted considerable influence in after days on the fortunes
of his country. He was, at the period I speak of, a bold, brave, high-
spirited boy; by no means unlike the one we have seen sleeping by
the cascade, though perhaps two or three years older. He was strong
and well proportioned for his age, and rode a wild young jennet,
which though full of fire, he managed with perfect ease. There waf
something, indeed, in the manner in which he excited the horse into
fury, gave it the rein, and let it dash free past all his companions, a3
if it had became perfectly ungovernable ; and then, without difficulty,
reined it up with a smile of triumph, which gave no bad picture of
a mind conscious of powers of command, ambitious of their exer-
cise, and fearless of the result. How this character of mind became
afterwards modified by circumstances, will be shown more fully in
the following pages.

In the meanwhile, we must proceed with the train of burghers as
they rode on through the wood, concerting various plans amongst
themselves, for concealing from the Duke of Burgundy the extent of
their intrigues with Adolphus of Gueldres and the revolted citizens
of Utrecht; for excusing themselves on those points which had reached
his knowledge, and for assuaging his anger by presents and submis-
sion. The first thing to be done, before presenting themselves at his
court, was, of course, to strip themselves of the warlike habiliments
in which they had flaunted, while entertaining hopes of a successful
revolt. For this purpose, they proposed to avoid the high road either
to Brussels or Louvain ; and as most of them were well acquainted
with the country through which they had to pass, they turned to tho

14 MART OF BURGUNDT.

left, after having proceeded about a mile farther on their way, and
put spurs to their horses, in order to get out of the forest before night-
fall, which was now fast approaching.

The way was difficult, however, and full of large ruts and stones,
in some places overgrown with briers, in some places interrupted by
deep ravines. Here it would go down so steep a descent, that slow>
ness of progression was absolutely necessary to the safety of their
necks ; there, it would climb so deep a hill, that whip and spur were
applied to increase the speed of their beasts in vain.

As they thus journeyed on, making but little way, the bright rosy
hue which tinged the clouds above their heads showed that the sun
was sinking beneath the horizon's edge : the red, after growing deeper
and deeper for some time, began to fade away into the grey ; each
moment the light became fainter and more faint; and, at length,
while they had yet at least three miles of forest ground to traverse,
night fell completely over the earth.

The darkness, however, was not so deep as in any degree to
prevent them from finding their way onward, or from distinguish-
ing the objects round about them, although it lent a mysterious
sort of grandeur to the deep masses and long dim glades of the forest,
made the rocks look like towers and castlfis, and converted many a
tree, to the eyes of the more timid, into the form of an armed man.

After having gone on in this state for about half an hour — just a
sufficient time, indeed, to work up every sort of apprehension to the
utmost, yet not long enough to familiarize the travellers with the
darkness, and when every one was calling to mind all the thousand
stories — which were, in those days, alas! too true ones — of robbers,
and murderers, and free plunderers — the whole party plunged down
into a deep dell, the aspect of which was not at all calculated to assuage
their terrors, whether reasonable or foolish. Not, indeed, that it was
more gloomy than the road through which they had been lately travel-
ling ; rather on the contrary. Whatever degree of light yet remained
in the heavens found its way more readily into that valley, where tha
trees were less high, and at greater intervals from each other, than
into the narrow road which had led them thither; the high banks of
which were lined all the way along with tall and overhanging beeches.
The sort of dingle, however, which they now entered, was clothed
with low but thick shrubs ; and no means of egress whatever appeared,
except by climbing some of the steep ascents which surrounded it on
every side.

There was a small piece of level ground at the bottom, of about a
hundred yards in diameter ; and the moment they had reached the
flat, the word " Halt !" pronounced in a loud and imperative voice,
caused every one suddenly to draw his bridle rein with somewhat
timid obedience, though no one distinguished who was the speaker.

The matter was not left long in doubt. A dark figure glided from
the brushwood across their path; half a dozen more followed; and
the glistening of the faint light upon various pieces of polished iron,
showed that there was no lack of arms to compel obedience to the
peremptory order they had received to halt.

As the persons who obstructed the way, however, seemed but few
In number, one of the more bellicose of the burghers called upon his
companions to resist. His magnanimity was suddenly diminished by

MARY OFBUBGUNDY. 16

a long arm stretched from the bushes beside him, which applied the
stroke of a quarter-staff with full force to his shoulders ; and though
a curiass, by which his person was defended, protected him from any
serious injury, yet he was thrown forward upon his horse's neck, with
a sound very much resembling that produced by the falling of an
empty kettle from the hands of a slovenly cook. All were now of
opinion, that, whatever might have been the result of resistance to
the more open foes before them, it was useless to contend with such
invisible enemies also, especially as those that were visible were gra-
dually increasing in numbers ; and worthy Martin Fruse led the way
to a valorous surrender, by begging the gentlemen of the forest " to
spare them for God's sake."

" Down from your horses, every one of you !" cried the rough voice
which had commanded them to halt, " and we shall soon see what
stuff you are made of."

The citizens hastened to obey ; and, in the terror which now reigned
completely amongst them, strange were the attitudes which they
assumed, and strange was the tumbling off on either side of their
beasts, as they hurried to show prompt submission to the imperious
command they had received. In the confusion and disarray thus pro-
duced, only one person of all their party seemed to retain full com-
mand of his senses ; and he was no other than the boy we have before
described, who, now taking advantage of a vacancy he saw in the
ranks of their opponents, dashed forward for a gap in the wood, and
had nearly effected his escape. He was too late, however, by a single
moment : his bridle was caught by a strong arm, before he could
force his way through; and his light jennet, thrown suddenly upon
its haunches, slipped on the green turf, and rolled with her young
master on the ground.

"By my faith," said the man who had thus circumvented him,
" thou art a bold young springal ; but thou must back with me, my
boy;" and so saying, he raised him, not unkindly, from the earth,
and led him to the place where his companions stood.

The burghers and their attendants — in all, about ten in number —
were now divested of their arms, offensive and defensive, by the name-
less kind of gentry into whose hands they had fallen. This unplea-
sant ceremony, however, was performed without harshness; and,
though, no resistance of any kind was offered, their captors abstained,
with very miraculous forbearance, from examining the contents of
their pouches, and from searching for any other metal than cold iron.
When all this was completed, and the good citizens of Ghent re-
duced to their hose and jerkins, stood passive, in silent expectation of
what was to come next — not at all unlike a flock of sheep that s
shepherd's dog has driven into a corner of a field, — the same hoarse-
voiced gentleman, who had hitherto acted as the leader of their assail-
ants, addressed them in a bantering tone : — " Now, my masters, tell
me truly," he cried, " whether do ye covet to go with your hands and
feet at liberty, or to have your wrists tied with cords till the blood
starts out from underneath your nails, and your ankles garnished in
the same fashion ?"

The answer of the citizens may well be conceived ; and the other
went on in the same jeering manner : — " Well, then, swear to me by
all you hold holy and dear — but stay! First tell me who and what

1ft MAKY OP BURGUNDY.

you are, that I may frame the oath discreetly ; for each man in this
world holds holy and dear that which his neighbour holds foolish and
cheap."

" We are poor unhappy burghers of Ghent," replied Martin Fruse,
who, though at first he had been terrified to a very undignified de-
gree, now began to recover a certain portion of composure — " we are
poor unhappy burghers of Ghent, who have been induced by vain
hopes of some small profit to ourselves and our good city, to get upon
horseback. Alack ! and a well-a-day ! that ever honest, sober-
minded men should be persuaded to trust their legs across such gal-
loping uncertain, treacherous beasts."

" Ha ! ha ! ha !" shouted the man who had addressed him ; " as I
live by sword and dagger, it is good Martin Fruse coming from Na-
mur. Well, Martin, the oath I shall put to you is this — that by all
thy hopes of golden flqrins, by all thy reverence for silks and furs
and cloths of extra fineness, by thy gratitude to the shuttle and the
loom, and by thy respect and love for a fine fleece of English wool,
thou wilt not attempt to escape from my hands till I fix thy ransom
and give thee leave to go."

Martin Fruse very readily took the oath prescribed, grateful in his
heart for any mitigation of his fears, though trembling somewhat at
the name of ransom, which augured ill for the glittering heaps which
he had left at home. His comrades all followed his example, on an
oath of the same kind being exacted from each ; but when it was ad-
dressed to the youth who accompanied them, a different scene was
acted. He replied boldly, " Of cloths and furs I know nothing, but
that they cover me, and I will not take such a warehouse vow for the
best man that ever drew a sword."

" How now, how now, Sir Princox!" cried Martin Fruse; "art thou
not my nephew, Albert Maurice? Take the oath this gentleman
offers thee, sirrah, and be well content that he does not strike off thy
young foolish head."

" I will swear by my honour, uncle," replied the boy, " but I will
never swear by cloth and florins, for such a vow would bind me but
little."

" Well, well, thy honour will do," said the leader of their captors;
" though, by my faith, I think we must keep thee with us, and make
a soldier of thee ; for doubtless thou art unworthy of the high honour
of becoming a burgher of Ghent."

The sneering tone in which this was spoken expressed not ill the
general feeling of contempt with which the soldiers of that day looked
upon any of the milder occupations of life. Whatever kindness they
showed towards the citizen — which was at times considerable — pro-
ceeded solely from sensations approaching compassion, or from con-
siderations of self-interest. They looked upon the burgher, indeed,
as a sort of inferior animal, whose helplessness gave it some claim upon
their generosity ; and such was probably the feeling that prompted
the mild and indulgent manner in which the body of roving adven-
turers who had captured the Gandois travellers, marshalled their pri-
soners in rank, and led them away from the high road — where, though
improbable, such a thing as an interruption might accidentally have
taken place — to the deeper parts of the forest, in which silence and
solitude seemed to reign supreme.

mAHY OF BURGUNDY. IT

This part of the arrangement, however, was not at all to the taste
of good Martin Fruse ; and though he certainly did not offer any op-
position, yet, while led along, together with his companions, by fifteea
or sixteen armed and lawless men, it was with fear and trembling that
he rolled his eyes around upon the dark and dreary masses of wood,
down the long profound glades, in which nothing was to be distin-
guished, and over the wild and broken rocks, which every now and
then burst through their covering of trees and shrubs, and towering
up into the sky, caught upon their brows the first rays of the rising
moon, invisible to those who wandered through the forest at their
foot.

The scene was altogether a great deal too sublime and picturesque
for his taste ; and he could not help thinking, as he walked unwil-
lingly along, how admirably fitted was the place, into which he was
led, for committing murder, without fear of discovery. Then would
he picture to his own mind, his body left exposed beneath the green-
wood trees, to be preyed on by the ravens, and beaten by the wintry
showers ; and his heart would melt with tender compassion for him-
self, when he thought how all his good gossips of Ghent would, in
years to come, tell the lamentable story of worthy Martin Fruse, and
how he was murdered in the forest of Hannut, to the wondering ears
of a chance guest, over a blazing fire, in the midst of the cold winter.

He had nearly wept at the pitiful images he had called up of his
own fate, in his own mind; but, before he reached that point, a dis-
tant neighing met his ear. The horses on which he and his compa-
nions had ridden, and which were led after them by their captors,
caught the sound also, and answered in the same sort ; and in a few
minutes more, a bright light began to gleam through the wood, which
proved, on their farther advance, to proceed from a watch-fire, by the
side of which a bird of the same feather with those who had captured
them, was lying asleep. He started up, however, on their approach ;
and by the congratulations which passed mutually between him and
his comrades, it became evident to Martin Fruse, that a party of citi-
zens of Ghent was a rich prize in the eyes of the freemen of the forest.
It is true that he would rather have had his worth appreciated in a
different manner ; but the sight of the fire cheered his heart, and a
sumpter horse, which the good burghers had brought with them, being
led forward and relieved of its burden, the various stores of provision
with which it was loaded were spread out upon the grass, and called
up more genial ideas in the mind of the citizen than those which had
hitherto accompanied him on his way through the forest. The plea-
sures of this new subject of contemplation, indeed, were for a few
minutes disturbed, by apprehension lest the captors should proceed to
divide the spoil of the panniers, without assigning any part to the
original proprietors. But this source of uneasiness was soon re-
moved; and, on being made to sit down by the fire, and invited
frankly and freely to partake of all the good things once his own, the
oeart of Martin Fruse expanded with joy, the character of robber ac-
quired a dignity and elevation in his eyes which it had never before
possessed ; and deriving from fat cold capon and excellent wine both
present satisfaction and anticipations of future good treatment, he
gave himself up to joy, and began to gaze round upon the faces of his
uew eomrades with every inclination to be pleased.

IB MARV Oi iiiiui

CHAPTEK HI.

JjEAving the worthy burgher and his companions in the forest, we
must change the scene for a while, and bring the reader into the
interior of one of the feudal mansions of the period. The room into
which we intend to introduce him was small in size ; and, being placed
in a high, square tower, attached to the castle of Hannut, it took the
exact form of the building, except inasmuch as a portion was taken
off the western side, for the purpose of admitting a staircase, on which,
indeed, no great space was thrown away. The furniture of the room
was small in quantity, and consisted of a few large chairs of dark black
oak, (whose upright backs of almost gigantic height were carved in a
thousand quaint devices) together with two or three settles or stools,
without any backs at all, a silver lamp, hanging by a thick brass
chain from the centre of a roof, formed into the shape of a tent by the
meeting of a number of grooved arches, and a small black cabinet, or
closet, one of the doors of which stood open, displaying within, in
splendid bindings of crimson velvet, what might in that day have
been considered a most precious library, comprising about forty tomes
of manuscript.

Besides being decorated by these articles of furniture, the room was
adorned with fine hangings of old tapestry ; but the principal object
in the whole chamber was a table and reading-desk of some dark
coloured wood, on which were displayed, wide open, the broad vellum
leaves of a richly illuminated book. The table, and its burden, were
placed exactly beneath the silver lamp already mentioned, which
threw a strong but flickering light upon the pages of the work ; and
a chair which stood near seemed to show that somebody had recently
been reading.

The person who had been so employed, however, had by this time
ceased ; and having risen from his seat, was standing beside an open
casement, pierced through the thick walls at such a height from the
floor, as just to enable him to lean his arm upon the sill of the window,
and gaze out upon the scene beyond.

Through this open casement, at the time I speak of, the bright stars
of a clear autumn night might be seen twinkling like diamonds in the
unclouded sky; the sweet, warm, westerly wind, breathing of peace
and harvest from the plains beyond, sighed over the tops of the tall
forest trees, and poured into the window just raised above them ; and
some faint streaks of light to the west told that day had not long
departed. The person who gazed over the wide expanse commanded
by the tower, was a tall strong man, of perhaps a little more than
forty years of age, with a forehead somewhat bald, and hair which had
once been black, but which was now mingled thickly with grey, while
his beard, which was short and neatly trimmed, had become almost
white. His complexion was of a pale, clear brown, without a tinge of
red in any part except his lips : and, as he gazed out upon the sky,
there was a still calm spread over every feature, which, together with
the bloodless hue of his skin, would have made his countenance look
like that of the dead, had not the light of his large deep brown eye
told of a bright and living soul within. We must take leave to look

MARY OP BURGUNDY. 19

for a moment into his bosom as he stood in his lonely study, gazing
forth upon the sky.

" And are those clear orbs," he thought, as with his glance fixed
upon the heavens he saw star after star shine forth, " and are those
bright orbs really the mystic prophets of our future fate ? Is yon the
book on which the Almighty hand has written in characters of light
the foreseen history of the world he has created? It may be so: nay,
probably it is; and yet how little do we know of this earth that we
inhabit, and of yon deep blue vault that circles us around. The
peasant, when he hears of my lonely studies, endues my mind, in his
rude fancy, with power over the invisible world, and all the troops of
spirits that possibly throng the very air we breathe ; and kings and
princes themselves send to seek knowledge and advice from my lips,
while I could answer to peasant and to king, that all my powers do
not suffice to lay the spirit of past happiness from rising before my
eyes, and all my knowledge does not reach to find that sovereign
elixir — consolation for the fate of man. All that I have learned
teaches me but to know that I have learned nothing ; to feel that
science, and philosophy, and wisdom are in vain; and that, hidden
mysteriously within the bosom of this mortal clay, i.» some fine essence,
some distinct being, which, while it participates in the pleasures and
affections of the earthly being in which it lies concealed, thirsts for
knowledge beyond the knowledge of this world, and yearns for joys
more pure, and loves more unperishable than the loves and joys of
this earth can ever be. Oh ! thou dear spirit, that in the years past I
have seen look forth upon me from the eyes of her new gone ; surely,
if ever the immortal being came back to visit the earth on which it
once moved, thou wouldst not have left me so long to solitude. No,
no," he added aloud, " it is all a dream !"

" And yet," he thought, after a pause, " the powers with which the
vulgar mind invests me are not all in vain: they give me at least
corporeal peace ; repose from all the turbulent follies ; the wild whirl-
ing nothings, which men call pleasure, or business, or policy : more
empty, more unimportant, in relation to the grand universe, than the
dancing of the myriad motes in the sunshine of a summer's day. They
give me peace — repose. I am no longer called upon, with an ash staff;
or bar of sharpened iron, to smite the breast of my fellow-men, in
some mad prince's quarrel. I am no longer called upon to take coun-
sel with a crowd of grey-beard fools, in order to steal a few roods of
dull heavy soil from the dominions of some neighbouring king. No,
no; the very superstitious dread in which they hold me gives me peace ;
ay, and even power ; that phantom folly of which they are all so fond;
and be it far from me to undeceive them."

Thus thought the Lord of Hannut ; and, like most men, in some
degree he cheated himself in regard to his own motives. Doubtless,
the predominating feelings of his heart were such as he believed them
to be. But, besides those motives on which he suffered his mind to
rest, there mingled with the causes of his conduct small portions of
the more ordinary desires and passions which minds of a very ele-
vated tone are anxious to conceal even from themselves. Learned
beyond any one, perhaps, of his age and country, the Lord of Hannut
was not a little proud of his knowledge ; but when we remember the
darkness of the times in which he lived, we shall not wonder that

SO BIARV OP BURCUXnr.

such learning tended but little to enlighten his mind upon the deep
and mysterious subjects, which the height of human knowledge has
but discovered to be beyond its ken. Judicial astrology, in that day,
was held as a science, of the accuracy of which, ignorance alone
could be permitted to doubt; and the belief that a superhuman agency
was not only continually but visibly at work in the general affairs of
this world, was both a point of faith with the vulgar, and a point ad-
mitted by many of the most scientific. Magic and necromancy were
looked upon as sciences. In vain Friar Bacon had written an elabo-
rate treatise to prove their nullity : he himself was cited as an instance
of their existence ; and many of the most learned were only deterred
from following them openly, by the fear of those consequences which
rendered their private pursuits more interesting from the degree of
danger that accompanied it.

Although magic, properly so called, formed no part of his studies,
the reputation of dabbling in that imaginary science was not disa-
greeable to the Lord of Hannut ; nor was it alone the desire of ob-
taining peace and repose, which rendered the awe not unpleasing,
wherewith both the peasantry of the neighbourhood, and his fellow
nobles throughout the land regarded him ; but, mingling imperceptibly
with the current of other feelings, gratified vanity had its share also.
Nor, indeed, though he affected to despise the world and the world's
power, did the influence that he exercised upon that world displease
him. Perhaps, too, that influence might be the more gratifying, be-
cause it was of an uncommon kind ; and though, doubtless, true phi-
losophy, and a just estimate of the emptiness of this earth's pleasures
and desires, might have a considerable share in the distant solitude
which he maintained, the pride of superior knowledge had its portion,
too, of the contempt with which he looked upon the generality of
beings like himself. Much true benevolence of heart and susceptibility
of feeling, with a considerable degree of imaginative enthusiasm, were,
in fact, the principal features of his character; yet his reasoning
powers also were strong and clear, and very superior to those of most
men in the age in which he lived ; but as we sometimes see, these
various qualities of his mind and heart rather contended against
than balanced each other.

In his early youth, the enthusiasm and the susceptibility had ruled
almost alone. The din of arms, the tumult of conflicting hosts, the
pomp and pageant of the listed field, all had charms for him. The
natural strength of his frame, and the skill and dexterity given by
early education, had made many of the best knights in Europe go
down before his lance, and had obtained for him that degree of glory
and applause which in those days was sure to follow and encourage
feats of arms, and which might have kept him for life one of the rude
but gallant champions of the day. But then came love — love of that
deep, powerful, engrossing nature, which a heart such as his was
alone capable of feeling. The cup of happiness was given to his lip
but for a moment; he was suffered to drink, one deep, short draught;
and, when he had tasted all its sweetness, it was dashed from his
hand, never to be filled again. From that moment his life had passed
in solitude, and his days and nights had been occupied by study: nor
had he above once, for more than twelve years, passed the limits of
that forest over which his eyes were now cast.

MARY OF BURGUNDY. SI

As he leaned upon the window-sill, and gazed out upon the sky,
pondering over the strange mystery of man's being, and the lot which
fate had cast him, the last faint lingering rays of twilight were with-
drawn from the air, and night fell Upon one half of the world ; but it
was one of those bright, clear, splendid nights, which often come in
the beginning of autumn, as if the heavens loved to look, with all
their thousand eyes, upon the rich harvest and the glowing fruit.
After he had gazed for some time, the eastern edge of the heavens
began to grow lighter, and the clear yellow moon, waxing near her
full, rose up, and poured a tide of golden light over the immense
extent of green leaves and waving boughs spread out beneath his
eyes. All was still, and solemn, and silent, and full of calm splen-
dour, and tranquil brightness. There was not a sound, there was not
a motion, except the slow gliding of the beautiful planet up the
arch of heaven, and the whispering of the light wiad, as it breathed
through the boughs of the trees.

Suddenly, however, a dull, faint noise was heard at some distance;
which went on increasing slowly, till the sound of horses' feet could
be distinguished, broken occasionally by the tones of a human voice,
speaking a few words of order or inquiry. The Lord of Hannut
listened, and when the horsemen came nearer, he gathered, from an
occasional sentence, spoken as they wound round the foot of the tower
in which he was standing, that the party were directing their course
to the gates of his own dwelling. His brow became slightly clouded;
and though hospitality was a duty at that time never neglected, yet
so rarely was he visited by strangers, and so little did he court society,
that he paused somewhat anxiously to think of how he might best
receive them. To throw the gates of a castle open to all comers, was
not, indeed, at all safe in those days ; and though the Lord of Hannut
was, at that time, at feud with no one, and though his personal cha-
racter, the strength of his castle, and the number of his retainers,
secured him against the free companions and plunderers of the times,
it was not, of course, without pause and examination, that any large
body of men were to be admitted within the walls at such an hour of
the night. He remained, however, musing somewhat abstractedly,
till the horsemen, whom he had heard below, had wound along the
road, which, following the various sinuosities of the walls and defences
of the castle, skirted the brow of the hill on which it stood, and was
only interrupted by the gate of the barbacan on the northern side of
the building.

Before it the travellers paused ; and the sound of a horn winded
long and clearly, gave notice to denizens of the castle that admittance
was demanded by some one without. Still the master of the mansion
remained in thought, leaving to the prudence and discretion of his
seneschal the task of receiving and answering the travellers ; and the
sound of a falling drawbridge, with the creaking of its beams, and the
clanging and clash of its rusty chains, followed by the clatter of
horses' feet in the court-yard, soon announced that a considerable
number of cavaliers had obtained admission. Many voices speaking
were next heard, and then, after a pause of comparative silence, a
slow step echoed up the long hollow staircase, which led to the
chamber we have already described. At that sound the Lord of
Hannut withdrew from the window, and seating himself before the

22 MARY uf BURGUNDT.

book in which he had been lately reading, fixed his eyes upon the
door. There might be a slight touch of stage effect in it — but no
matter — what is there on this earth without its quackery?

Scarcely had he done so, when some one knocked without, and, on
being desired to come in, presented at the half-opened door, the
weather-beaten face of an old soldier, who acted the part of seneschal,
bearing a look of apprehension, which sat ill upon features that
seemed originally destined to express anything but fear.

"Come in, Eoger, come in!" cried the Lord of Hannut. "Art
thou fool enough, too, to think that I deal with evil spirits?"

" God forbid, my lord !" replied the man. " But ill should I like to
see a spirit of any kind, good or evil ; and therefore, I always like to
have the room clear before I intrude."

"Well, what would you now?" demanded his lord, with somewhat
of impatience in his manner. "Wherefore do you disturb me?"

"So please you, sir," replied the seneschal, " a noble traveller just
alighted in the court below, with a small but gallant train, consisting
of "

"On with thy tale, good Roger!" interrupted his master. "What
of the traveller? Leave his train to speak for themselves hereafter."

" So please you, my lord," continued the other, " he bade me tell
you that an old tried friend, Thibalt of Neufchatel, craved your hospi-
tality for a single night."

"Thibalt of Neufchatel!" exclaimed the other, his face brightening
for a moment with a transitory expression of pleasure, and then
turning deadly pale, as the magic of memory, by the spell of that
single name, called up the scenes of the painful past with which that
name was connected. "Thibalt of Neufchatel! an old tried friend,
indeed! though sad was the day of our last meeting. Where is he?
Lead the way!"

Thus saying, the Lord of Hannut, without waiting for the guidance
of his seneschal, proceeded with a rapid step towards the great hall
of the castle, concluding as was really the case, that into that place of
general reception the travellers bad been shown on their arrival. It
was an immense gloomy apartment, paved with stone, occupying the
whole interior space at the bottom of the chief tower. At one end
was the great door, which opened at once into the court ; and at the
other was a high pointed window, not unlike that of a cathedral.
Arms, of every kind then in use, decorated the walls in profusion.
On the right side, as you entered from the court, was the wide open
hearth, with stools and benches round about ; and so wide and cool
was the chamber, that at the time I speak of — though a night in the
early part of September — an immense pile of blazing logs sparkled
and hissed in the midst, casting a red and flickering glare around,
jyhich, catching on many a lance, and shield, and suit of armour
on the opposite wall, lost itself in the gloom at either end of the hall,
and in the deep hollow of the vault above.

A cresset — hung by a chain from the centre of the roof — added a
degree of light, which, however, was confined to the part of the hall
in the immediate vicinity of the lamp ; and, within its influence, dis-
encumbering themselves of some of the habiliments of the road, were
seated the party of travellers just arrived, at the moment that the
Lord of Hannut entered. He came in by a small door behind one of

XABY OF BUHGUXDY.

23

the massy pillars which supported the vault, and advanced at once
towards his guests. The sound of his footstep caused them all to
rise, but the Marshal of Burgundy immediately advanced before the
rest to meet his friend. When within a few steps of each other, both
stopped, and looked with a countenance of doubt and surprise on the
face of the other. Each had forgotten that many years had passed
since they last met, and each had pictured to himself the image of
his friend as he had before seen him, in the pride of youth and health;
but, when the reality was presented to them, both paused in astonish-
ment to gaze upon the effects of Time's tremendous power, which
they mutually presented to each other. Nor was their surprise at
first unmingled with some degree of doubt as to the identity of the
person before them with the friend from whom they had so long been
separated.

"Good God!" exclaimed the Lord of Hannut, "Thibault of Xeuf-
chatel!"

"Even so. Maurice of Hannut!" replied the Marshal. Good faith,
old friend, I scarcely should have known thee. But more of this
hereafter," he added, hastily. "See, here is a mighty prince, the
Lord Louis of Valois, who demands thy care and hospitality for this
night, as under my safe conduct ; he journeys to visit his noble cousin,
our sovereign, the Duke of Burgundy."

The Lord of Hannut bowed low at this intimation of the high
quality of one of his guests, and proceeded to welcome the son of the
reigning monarch of France, with that grave and stately dignity
which the early habits of the court and camp had given to his demea-
nour. The forms and ceremonies of that day, which would be found
dull enough even to practise at present, would appear still duller in
writing than they would be in act ; and, therefore, passing over all
the points of etiquette which were observed in the reception and
entertainment of the Dauphin, the supper that was laid before him,
and the spiced wines that were offered him at his bedside, we will
continue for a moment in the great hall, which, after he retired to
rest, remained occupied by the few attendants who had accompanied
himself and the Marshal of Burgundy thither, and by the usual
servants and officers of the Lord of Hannut.

The presence of their superiors had restrained for a time all free
communication amongst these worthy personages; but, between the
squire of the body to the Marshal of Burgundy, and the seneschal of
the Lord of Hannut, had passed many a glance of recognition, and a
friendly, though silent, pinch of the arm during supper; and no sooner
was Louis of Valois safely housed in his chamber, and his companion,
the Lord of Neufchatel, closeted with the master of the mansion, than a
conversation commenced between two of the followers, a part of which
must be here put down as illustrative of those past events, which, in
some degree, however slight, affect the course of this true history.

"What, Roger de Lorens!" cried the squire of the Marshal, "still
hanging to the skirts of thy old lord? Do I find thee here at the end
of twelve long years ?"

,;And where could I be better, Begnault of Gand?" replied the
other. " But thou thyself, old friend, art thou not at the same skirts
too as when last I saw thee ? How is it, that after such long service
thou art not yet a knight?"

24 MARY OF BURGUNDY.

" Why, in good faith, then," replied the squire, " it is that I am too
poor to do honour to knighthood, and too wise to covet a state that 1
have not the means to hold. I have made money in the wars on an
occasion too, like my neighbours ; but, alack, friend Roger, no sooner
does the right hand put the money in, than the left hand filches it out
again. And is it, then, really twelve long years since we met ? Lord,
Xord! it looks but yesterday, when I think of those times ; and yet
when I count up all the things I have done since, and make old
Memory notch them down on her tally, it seems like the score of a
hundred years more than twelve. I remember the last day we ever
saw each other; do you?"

"Do you think I could ever forget" it!" said the other. " Was it
not that day when the pleasure-house of Lindenmar was burned to the
ground, and our good lord's infant was consumed in the flames ?"

" I remember it well," replied the other, musing over the circum-
stances of the past ; " and I remember that my lord and Adolph of
Gueldres, and all the rest of the nobles that were marching to join
the duke, saw the flames from the road ; and all came willingly to
help your gallant young lord. He was gallant and young then. But
Adolph of Gueldres cried to let them all burn, so that the lands of
Hannut might come to him. He said it laughing, indeed; but it was
a bitter jest at such a minute."

" My lord heard of that soon enough," answered the seneschal, " and
he never forgave it."

" Oh, but he heeded him not," exclaimed the other : " we all gave
what aid we could. Mind you not, how my lord rushed in and brought
out our lady in his arms, and how she wept for her child ? It was but
a fortnight old, they say!"

"No more, no more !" answered the other: "and I will tell you
what, she never ceased to weep till death dried up her tears : poor
thing! But, hark thee, Regnault," he added, taking the other by the
arm, and drawing him a few paces aside, not only out of earshot of
the rest of the persons who tenanted the hall, but also out of the broad
glare of the lamp, as if what he was about to say were not matter for
the open light: — "but, hark thee, Regnault de Gand! they do say
that the spirits of that lady and her child visit our lord each night in
his chamber at a certain hour."

" Didst thou ever see them, good Roger?" demanded his companion,
with a smile of self-satisfied incredulity. " Didst thou ever set eyes
upon them, thyself? '

" God forbid 1" ejaculated the seneschal, fervently ; " God forbid !
I would not see them for all the gold of Egypt."

"Well, then, good Roger, fear not," replied Regnault de Gand,
"thou shalt never see them! I have heard a mighty deal of spirits,
and ghosts, and apparitions, and devils ; but though I have served in
the countries where they are most plenty, I never could meet with
one in the whole course of my life ; and between us two, good Roger,
I believe in none of them ; except, indeed, all that the church believes,
and the fourteen thousand virgin martyrs."

" Why that is believing enough in all conscience," replied Roger de
Lorens; " but if you believe in no such things, I will put you to sleep
in the small room at the stairs' foot, just beneath my lord's private
chamber."

MAIIY OF liU-RGUNDlT. 3j

Whether this proposal was relished much or little b> the worthy
squire, he had made too open a profession of his incredulity to shrink
from the test; and he was fain to take up his abode for the night in a
low-roofed, but not inconvenient chamber, at the foot of the staircase
in the square tower. He looked somewhat pale as his old companion
bade him good-night ; but he looked a vast deal paler the next day
when they wished each other good-morning. Not one word, however,
did he say, either of objection at first, or of comment at last ; and no
one ever exactly knew how he sped during the night he passed in that
chamber, though, when some months after he married a buxom dame
of Ghent, a report got about amongst the gossips, that though he had
not actually encountered a spirit, he had heard many strange noises,
and seen many a strange beam of light wandering about the apart-
ment, coming he knew not whence and disappearing he knew not
whither.

He himself told nothing openly ; and when the fair dame whom he
had taken to his bosom, and who was supposed to be deeply learned
in all the secrets thereof, was spoken to on the subject, she, too,
affected a tone of mystery ; only assuring the ingenious gossip, who
tried to ferret out the details, with a solemn shake of the head, "that
those might disbelieve the apparation of spirits who liked. As for
her husband, Regnault, he had good cause to know better ; though he
had once been a scoffer, like all the rest of your swaggering, gallant,
dare-devil men-at-arms."

Having now violated, in some degree, the venerable art of chro-
nology, and, in favour of the worthy squire, run somewhat forward
before the events of my tale, I must beg the reader to pause on his
advance for a single instant; and, while the Dauphin, the Marshal,
and their respective trains, sleep sound in the massy walls of the
castle of Hannut, to return with me to the party we lately left as-
sembled round a fire in the heart of the forest.

CHAPTER IV.

From the middle of the fourteenth to the middle of the fifteenth
centuries, and even, perhaps, to a much later period, there existed,
spread over the whole continent — equally in France, in Flanders, in
Italy, and in Germany — a particular class of men, whose livelihood
was obtained by the sword, and by the sword alone. In time of
hostility, they were soldiers; in time of peace, they were plunderers;
and long habituated to reap alone the iron harvest of war, they never
dreamed of turning the sword into the reaping-hook ; a sort of pro-
ceeding which they would have considered the basest degradation of
an instrument which they held in as high a degree of veneration, as
that in which it was regarded by the ancient Scythians.

In the interior of France, indeed, such a thing as peace was some-
times to be found; but Germany, and its frontiers towards France,
presented such a number of great vassals, and independent princes,
each of whom had the right of waging war against his neighbour — a
right which they took care should not fall into desuetude — that the
mercenary soldiers, who at that time infested the world, were rarely,
for any long period, under the necessity of cultivating the arts of peace,
even in their own peculiar manner, in the heart of the green forest.

96 MAKY OF BUHGUNDT.

During the earlier part of the great struggle between France and
England, these men had assembled in bodies of thousands and tens of
thousands; and, during the existence of any of the temporary sus-
pensions of hostilities, which took place from time to time, they seized
upon some town or castle, lived at free quarters in the country,- and
laid prince and peasant, city and village alike, under contribution.
Gradually, however, these great bodies became scattered ; kings found
it more imperatively necessary to overcome such internal foes, than
to oppose an external enemy. The nobles also leagued together to
destroy any of the great bands that remained ; but the smaller ones —
tolerated at first as a minor evil, consequent upon the system of war-
fare of the day — were always in the end encouraged, protected, and
rewarded, when hostilities between any two powers rendered their
services needful to each ; and were not very severely treated, when
circumstances compelled them to exercise their military talents on
their own account. Scarcely a great lord through Germany, or Bur-
jrundy, or Flanders, had not a band of this kind, more or less for-
midable, according to his wealth and power, either in his pay, or
under his protection. The character of the adventurer, indeed, of
each particular troop, greatly depended upon the disposition and man-
ners of the lord to whom they were for the time attached ; but, on
the whole, they were a very much libelled people ; and though in actual
warfare they were certainly worse than the ordinary feudal soldier of
the day, in time of peace they were infinitely better than the class of
common robber, that succeeded upon their extinction. There were
times, indeed, when, under the guidance of some fierce and ruthless
leader, they committed acts which disgraced the history of human
nature; but upon ordinary occasions, though they carried into the
camp a strong touch of the plundering propensities of the freebooters,
yet, when war was over, they bore with them, to the cavern or the
wood, many of the frank and gallant qualities of the chivalrous soldier.

It was in the hands of a body of such men, though of a somewhat
better quality than usual, that we last left Martin Fruse, the worthy
burgher of Ghent, beginning to recover from the apprehensions which
he had at first entertained, and to enjoy himself in proportion to tha
rapid transition he had undergone, from a feeling of terror to a sense
of security. The balance of human sensation is so nicely suspended,
that scarcely is a weight removed from the heart, ere up flies the
beam, as far above as it was below ; and long does it vibrate before it
attains the equipoise. Such, I believe, are the feelings of every
bosom : though some, ashamed ox the sudden transition, have power
enough to master its expression, and clothe themselves with external
calmness, while their hearts are really as much agitated as those of
other men. Not so, however, with good Martin Fruse : though, oc-
casionally, in affairs of policy, he thought himself called upon to make
a bungling attempt to give an air of diplomatic secrecy and caution
to his language and manner; and though, when prompted by others,
he could speak an equivocal speech, and fancy himself a skilful nego-
tiator upon the faith of a doubtful sentence, yet, in general, the emo-
tions of his heart would bubble up to the surface unrestrained. On
the present occasion, as cold capon and rich ham, strong Khenish and
fruity Moselle, gave pledges of the most satisfactory kind for his fu-
ture safety, his joy sparkled forth with somewhat childish glee;

MARV OF BURGUNDY. 2?

and his good friends, the robbers, in the midst of the green forest,
supplied, in his affections, the place of many a boon companion of the
rich town of Ghent.

The stores of the sumpter-horse were soon nearly consumed; but
it was remarked by the worthy burgher, that a portion which, by
nice computation, he judged might satisfy the appetite of two hungry
citizens, together with a couple of large flasks of the best wine,
were set apart with reverential care, as if for some person who was
not present, but who was held by his companions in a high degree of
respect. After governing his curiosity for some time, that most un-
restrainable of all human passions got the better of him ; and by some
sidelong questions he endeavoured to ascertain for whom this reserva-
tion was made.

"Oh no! no, no!" replied the personage who had hitherto acted as
the leader of the freebooters, " we must not touch that ; it is put by
for our captain, who will be here presently, and will tell us," he
added, with a malicious grin, as he played upon the apprehensions of
the good citizen — "and will tell us what we are to do with thee
and thine, good Master Martin Fruse. Thou art not the first syndic
of the weavers, I trow, who has dangled from a beam ; and one could
not choose a more airy place to hang in, on a summer's day."

Though Martin Fruse perceived that there was a touch of jest at the
bottom of his companion's speech, yet the very thought of dangling
from a beam — a fate which the Duke of Burgundy was fully as likely
to inflict upon a rebellious subject, as the most ferocious freebooter
upon a wandering traveller — caused a peculiar chilly sensation to
pucker up his whole skin; but, as his danger from the robbers was
the more pressing and immediate of the two, he applied himself
strenuously to demonstrate, that it was both unjust and unreasonable
to hang a man either to beam or bough, after having abetted him in
making himself very comfortable in the world in which God had
placed him. There was something in the arguments he deduced from
capon and hock, together with the terror that he evidently felt, and a
degree of childish simplicity of manner, which made the freebooters
roar with laughter; and they were just indulging in one of these
merry peals, when a sudden rustle on the bank over their head gave
notice that some one was approaching.

"Hold by the roots, boy!" cried a rough voice above. "Here!
Set your foot there. Now jump : as far as you can. That's right !
Cleared it, by St. George ! Now, slip down. So here we are."

As he spoke the last words, Matthew Gournay, followed by young
Hugh of Gueldres, stood within one pace of the spot where the free-
booters had been regaling. Two or three of the latter had started up
to welcome him, holding high one of the torches to light his descent;
and as he came forward, his eye ran over the evidences of their
supper, and the party who had partaken of it, with some degree of
surprise.

"How now, my merry men?" he cried, laughing. "Ye have had
some sport, it would seem ; but, by our Lady ! I hope ye have left me
a share, and something for this poor lad, who is dying of hunger."

"Plenty, plenty for both," replied many of the voices; "that is to
•ay, enough for one meal at least ; the next we must find elsewhere."

"But here are some Gandois traders," added one of the party.

88 MARV OF BURGUNDY.

"waiting your awful decree, and trembling in every limb lest they
should be hanged upon the next tree."

"God forbid!" replied Matthew Gournay. "We will put them to
light ransoms, for rich citizens. Who is the first? Stand up, good
man. What! Martin Fruse!" he exclaimed, starting back, as the light
fell upon the face of the burgher. "My old friend, Martin Fruse, in
whose house I lodged when I came to teach the men of Ghent how to
get up a tumult! Little did I think I should so soon have thee under
contribution."

"Nay, nay, good Master Gournay," replied the burgher, "right
glad am I to see thee. In truth, I thought I had fallen into worse
hands than thine. I know well enough," he added, with a somewhat
doubtful expression of countenance, notwithstanding the confidence
which his words implied — "I know well enough that thou hast no
heart to take a ransom from thine old companion."

"Faith but thou art wrong, Martin," replied Matthew Gournay,
laying his heavy hand upon the citizen's shoulder. "Thine own ran-
som shall be light, and that of thy comrades also, for thy sake ; but
something we must have, if it be but to keep up good customs. A
trifle, a mere trifle : a benevolence, as our good kings call it in Eng-
land, when they take it into their heads to put the clergy to ransom."

" Nay, but," said Martin Fruse, whose confidence and courage were
fully restored by the sight of his friend's face; "nay, but consider
that I was taken while journeying for the sole purpose of conferring
with thee and Adolph of Gueldres concerning the general rising we
■purposed."

" Well, well, we will speak further hereafter," answered Matthew
Gournay. "That job is all over for the present; and as, doubtless,
the duke has heard of our doings, it may go hard with your purses, and
with my neck, if he catch us, which please God he shall not do. But
we must think of some way of getting you all back to Ghent in safety.
Now, Halbert of the Hillside," he added, addressing one of his old
band, who was probably an Englishman like himself, " hie thee to the
midway oak. Thou wilt there find the old seneschal. Tell him al]
is safe! Bid him tarry there till to-morrow, collecting all our friend?
that come thither; and, in the meantime, to send me the leathern
bottles from the hollow tree. These flimsy flasks furnish scarce a
draught for a boy ; and, good faith, I will be merry to-night, whatever
befall to-morrow. Up the bank, up the bank," he continued; "'tis
but a quarter of a mile that way."

While the messenger was gone in search of the fresh supply of
wine which the leathern bottles implied, Matthew Gournay, and the
young companion, whom he had brought with him, despatched the
provisions which had been saved by the very miraculous abstinence
of the freebooters; and at the same time the two flasks of Rhenish
disappeared with a celerity truly astonishing. Four capacious bottles,
holding about a gallon each, were soon after added to the supply, and
all present were called upon to partake.

A scene of merriment and joy then succeeded, which would be im-
possible to describe ; such, indeed, as perhaps no men ever indulged
in whose lives were not held by so uncertain a tenure, whose mo-
ments of security were not counterbalanced by so many hours of
danger, and whose pleasures were not bought by so many labours

MALiY ui iiUlCGUiSDr. 3©

and pains, that it became their only policy to quaff the bowl of joy
to the very dregs, while it was yet at their lips, lest, at the first
pause, circumstance, that unkind step-dame, should snatch it angrily
from their hands for ever. The final explosion of their merriment
was called forth by good Martin Fruse, who, after showing many
signs and symptoms of weary drowsiness, declared that he should
like to go to bed, and asked, with much simplicity, where he was to
sleep.

" Sleep !" exclaimed Matthew Gourney, " sleep ! Why where the
fiend would you sleep ?"

" I mean, where's your house, good Master Matthew Gournay ?"
rejoined Martin Fruse, with open eyes, from which all expression was
banished by surprise at finding his question a matter of laughter, he
knew not why. " It 's all very well to sup in the wood on a fine
summer night ; but it 's growing late and cold, and I do think we had
better a great deal get us to our warm beds."

The only answer which he received to this speech, from the rob-
bers, was a new peal of laughter; but, at the same moment, his
nephew plucked him by the sleeve, exclaiming, " Hist, uncle ! ye only
make the knaves grin ; you may sleep where you are, or not sleep at
all for this night. Have you not heard how these men covet no co-
vering but the green boughs of the forest ?"

" Thou art somewhat malapert, young sir," said Matthew Gournay,
fixing upon him a glance into which various parts of the boy's speech,
not very respectful to the freebooters, had called up a degree of
fierceness that was not the general expression of his countenance ;
" thou art somewhat malapert ; and, if thy uncle follow my advice,
he will make thy shoulders now and then taste of the cloth-yard
measure, else thou wilt mar his fortune some fine day. The boy says
true, however, good Martin ; here sleepest thou this night, if thou
sleepest at all ; so get thee under yonder bank, with that broad oak
tree above thy head, to guard thee from the westerly wind, and thank
heaven thou hast so fair a canopy. There, wrap thy cloak about
thee ; ask God's blessing, and sleep sound. To-morrow I will wake
thee early, to talk of what may best be done to speed thee on thy
way in safety ; for many of the duke's bands are about ; and without
we can get thee some good escort, thou art like to be in the same
plight as the ass, who, running away from a dog, fell in -with a lion."

Although Martin Fruse believed himself to be as wise as any man
that ever lived, except King Solomon, he had a peculiar dislike, or
rather, it may be called, a nervous antipathy, to the very name of an
ass ; but, when it was introduced, as on the present occasion, in the
form of a simile, to exemplify his own situation, his feelings were
wounded in a deep degree. In silent indignation, therefore, for he
knew not what to reply, he arose, and proceeded to the spot pointed
out, where, having made himself as comfortable as circumstances per-
mitted him to do, he lay down, and, notwithstanding a firm determi-
nation not to close an eye, he was soon pouring forth a body of nasal
music, which seemed intended to shame the nightingales for their si-
lence in the autumn season.

The rest of the travellers took up with such couches as they could
find ; and the robbers, too, one by one, wrapped their cloaks about
them, and resigned themselves to sleep. The two last who remained

SO MABI OF BURGUNDT.

awake were Matthew Gournay and young Hugh of Gueldres, whose
slumber by the cascade in the morning had sufficiently removed the
weariness of his limbs, to leave his mind free to rest upon the sor-
rows of the past and the dangers of the present.

With him the leader of the freebooters held a long, and, to them, an
interesting conversation ; in the course of which the boy narrated al]
the events which had lately occurred to him : the storming of hij
father's castle by the troops of Burgundy ; the perils he had under
gone ; the difficulties of his escape ; his desolation and despair when
he found himself a wanderer and an outcast ; his long and weary
journey ; his adventure with the Dauphin, whom he described as a
French traveller ; and the manner in which that base and artful
prince had deceived him. He told it all with so much simple pathos,
that he called up something very like a tear in the adventurer's clear
blue eye ; and Matthew Gournay, laying his broad hand affectionately
on his head, exclaimed l! Never mind, my young lord, never mind ;
you are not without friends, and never shall be, so long as Matthew
Gournay lives ; for I swear by the blessed Virgin, and all the saints
*o boot, that my sword shall fight your quarrels, and my lance shall
be at your command, till I see you a righted man. But, as you say
that the Lord of Hannut is your cousin in the first degree, thither we
must go for help and counsel. I know him well, too ; for my good
band helped to keep his castle for him, when the black riders were about
last year : and what with the troops of spirits that folks say he can
command, and the company of the good fellows that I shall soon ga-
ther together again, we shall be able to do something for you, no
doubt. By the way," he added, seeming suddenly to bethink himself
sf some fact that had before escaped his attention, " these travellers,
you say, are going to Hannut too, and under their escort these Gan-
dois weavers may pass unsuspected on their way homeward."

" What if they refuse to take them ?" said Hugh of Gueldres.

" By the Lord, they shall eat more cold iron than they can well
stomach," replied the adventurer: " but I must sleep, my young lord,
I must sleep, if I would rise fresh to-morrow ! Lend us thy hand to
shift off this plastron." So saying, he disencumbered himself of hi*
breastplate, and the other pieces of defensive armour which might
have rendered his sleep uncomfortable ; and, laying them down by his
steel cap or basinet, which he had previously taken off, he wrapped
the end of his mantle round his head, stretched himself on the ground,
grasped the hilt of his dagger tight with his right hand ; and, in that
attitude, fell into as sound a sleep as if he had never tasted crime or
heard of danger. The boy soon followed his example, and all was
eilence.

About an hour before daylight the following morning, Martin Fruse
was awakened by some one shaking him by the shoulder. He
roused himself with many a yawn, rose up, stretched his round limbs,
which were sadly stiffened by a night's lodging upon the cold ground
and, gazing round, perceived, by the mingled light of the expiring
fire and one or two pine-wood torches stuck in the ground, that the
party of adventurers had been considerably increased during his sleep ;
and that they were now all busily employed in saddling horses and
preparing for a march, except, indeed, Matthew Gournay himself,
whose grasp it was that had awakened him. He was now informed,

MARY OF BURGUNDY. 81

in a few brief words, without any precise explanation, that a means
had suggested itself for sending him and his companions forward to-
wards Ghent, with less danger than that to which they would be
exposed in travelling alone. For this courtesy, and for the permission
to return at all, Matthew Gournay exacted, under the name of ran-
som, a sum so much smaller than the fears of the worthy burgher had
anticipated, that he only affected to haggle for a florin or two less, in
order to keep up the custom of bargaining, so necessary to him in his
nercantile capacity. A hint, however, from Matthew Gournay, that,
if he said another word, the sum demanded should be tripled, soon set
the matter at rest ; and in a few minutes the whole party were oa
horseback, and on their way to the castle of Hannut.

On their arrival at the gate of the barbacan, they were instantly
challenged by a sentry, who at that early hour stood watching the first
grey streaks of the dawn. After various inquiries and messages to
and from the interior of the castle, they were led round to a small
postern, and, being made to dismount, were led, one after another, by
torchlight, up one of those narrow, almost interminable staircases, still
to be found in every old building whose erection can be traced to
the feudal period.

CHAPTER V.

It was after dinner on the following morning — which meal, be it re-
marked, took place in those days about ten o'clock — that the Dauphin
and the Marshal of Burgundy rose to bid adieu to their noble host,
and offered him, in courteous terms, their thanks for the hospitable
entertainment he had shown them.

" I have, my lord, a favour to ask in return," said the lord of Han-
nut, "which will leave me your debtor. The case is simply this:
some worthy merchants of Ghent, travelling on mercantile affairs, as
I am told, arrived here this morning; and, being fearful of encoun-
tering some of the robbers, who have given to this forest not the best
repute, they are now waiting in the inner court, anxious to join them-
selves to your train, and accompany you as far as Cortenbergh, where
they will leave you, and take the short-cut to Ghent."

" Willingly, willingly," replied the Dauphin; "by my faith, if there
be robbers in the wood, the more men we are, the better."

The Marshal of Burgundy looked somewhat grave. "I have heard
rumours, my lord," he said, " that the men of Ghent, who, in my young
day, when I frequented this part of the country, were as turbulent a
race of base mechanics as ever drove a shuttle or worked a loom,
have not forgotten their old habits, and from day to day give my lord
the duke some fresh anxiety."

"Nay, nay," replied the lord of Hannut; "these men are rich
burghers, returning peacefully to their own city from some profitable
excursion."

" Oh, let us have them, by all means!" exclaimed Louis, who pos-
sibly might have his own views, even at that time, in cultivating a
good understanding with the people of Ghent. At least, we know that
he never ceased to keep up some correspondence with the burghers of
the manufacturing town of Flanders, from the time of his exile among
them, to the last hour of his life. " Oh! let us have them by all meane.

35 MARY OF BDECUSDY.

Think of the robbers, my Lord Marshal! By my faith! I have ten
few florins in my purse to lose any willingly!"

The Marshal of Burgundy signified his assent by a low inclination
of the head ; though it was evident, from his whole manner, that he
was not at all pleased with the new companions thus joined to his
band; and would at once have rejected the proposal, had good
manners towards his host, or respect towards the Dauphin, permitted
him to make any further opposition.

" So necessary do I think caution against the freebooters, my lords,"
said the master of the mansion, as he conducted them towards the
court-yard, where their horses stood saddled, " that I have ordered
ten spears of my own to accompany you to the verge of the forest.
They will join you at the little town of Hannut, about a quarter of a
league distant ; and will remain with you as long as you may think
it necessary."

Louis expressed his gratitude in courtly terms ; and the Lord of
Neufchatel thanked his old friend more frankly ; but said, he should
like to see the boldest freebooter that ever was born, stand before the
Marshal of Burgundy, though he had but four lances and four horse-
toys in his train. The party were by this time in the court-yard ;
and Louis greeted the burghers, whom he found waiting, with a
familiar cordiality, well calculated to win their hearts, without dimi-
nishing his own dignity. The Marshal of Burgundy, on the contrary,
spoke not; but looked on them with a grim and somewhat contemp-
tuous smile ; muttering between his tseth, with all the haughtiness of
a feudal noble of that day: "The rascallion communes! they are
dressed as proudly as lords of the first degree!"

Notwithstanding his offensive pride, yet untamed by years, the
Lord of Neufchatel was far from treating the burghers with any real
unkindness; and after the whole party had mounted, and left the
castle of Hannut, he gratified himself every now and then by a sneer,
it is true ; but whenever any occasion presented itself for contributing
to their comfort, or rendering them a substantial service, the natural
courtesy of a chivalrous heart got the better of the prejudices of
education. At an after period, indeed, he went still further, and
greatly changed his demeanour towards the people of the towns;
but at present, his pride offended more than his services pleased;
and when, after a quiet and uninterrupted journey, the two parties
separated at Cortenbergh, though the Marshal left them as a set of
men on whom he should never waste another thought, they remem-
bered him long as one of those haughty tyrants whose insults and
oppression often goaded the people into tumults, though the time was
not yet come for a successful struggle for emancipation.

From Cortenberg, the Dauphin and his companions rode on towards
Brussels, sending forward a messenger to inform the Duke of
Burgundy of their approach ; but before they reached the gates of
the town, they received information that the prince whom they sought
was even then in the field against the people of Utrecht. Neverthe-
less, as a safe asylum in Brussels was all that Louis demanded, he
rode on upon his way: and, being admitted at once within the walls of
the town, proceeded towards the palace. His coming had been
notified to the Duchess Isabelle : and on arriving at the barriers which
at that time separated the dwelling of every prince or great noble

MAKY OF BURGUNDY. S3

from the common streets of the town, he found that prirwess, together
with the young and beautiful Countess of Charolois — the wife of him
afterwards famous as Charles the Bold — waiting to do honour to the
heir of the French throne. No sooner did he perceive them, than,
springing from his horse, he advanced with courtly grace, and gal-
lantly saluted the cheek of every one of the fair bevy who had
descended to welcome him ; and then offering his arm to the Duchess,
wished to lead her into the palace. But this method of proceeding
was not at all permitted by the mistress of the most ceremonious
court, at that time, in Europe ; and a series of formal courtesies began
and endured for a mortal half hour, such as would have slain any
queen in modern Europe. At length, the resistance of the Duchess
was vanquished by the Dauphin taking her by the hand, and thus
leading her forward, as he exclaimed, "Nay, nay, lady, you are over-
ceremonious towards one who is now the poorest gentleman of all the'
realm of France, and knows not where to find a refuge, except with
you and my fair uncle of Burgundy."

We might now pursue Louis XL through all his cunning intrigues
at the court of Burgundy ; for, though then a young man, with the
ardent blood of youth mingling strangely in his veins with the cold
serpent-like sanies of policy, yet his nature was the same artful
nature then that it appeared in after-years: and treachery and
artifice were as familiar to his mind while combined with the passions
and follies of early life, as they were when connected with the super-
stitions and weaknesses of his age.

At present, however, it is neither with Louis nor with the Duke of
Burgundy, nor with his warlike son, that we have principally to do,
but rather with the young Countess of Charolois, then in that
interesting situation when the hopes of a husband and a nation
are fixed upon a coming event, which, with danger to the mother, is
to cive an heir to the throne and to the love of both sovereign and
people.

The subjects of Burgundy watched anxiously, till at length, in the
month of February, on St. Valentine's eve, was born Mary of Bur-
gundy—the only child that ever blessed the bed of Charles the Bold.
The baptism was appointed to take place as soon as possible: and the
Dauphin was invited to hold at the font the infant princess, much
of whose after-being his ambition was destined to render miserable.
Now, however, all was joy and festivity; and magnificent presents,
and splendid preparations, evinced how much the Flemish citizens
shared, or would have seemed to share, in the happiness of their duke
and his family. Even the people of Utrecht, so lately in rebellion,
vied with Bruges and Brussels, Ghent and Ypres, in offering rich
testimonies of their gladness; and Brussels itself was one scene of
gorgeous splendour during the whole day of the christening. The
centre of the great street, from the palace to the church of Cobergh,
was enclosed within railings breast-high; and towards night, four
hundred of the citizens, holding lighted torches of pure wax in their
hands, were stationed along the line. A hundred servants of the
house of Burgundy, furnished also with torches, lined the aisles of
the church, and a hundred more were soon seen issuing from the
palace gates, followed by as splendid a cortege as the world ever
beheld. The Duchess of Burgundy herself, supported by the Dau-

34 MARY OF BURGUNDY.

phin, carried her son's child to the font; and all the nobles of that
brilliant court followed on foot to the church.

It is not necessary here to describe the pompous ceremonies of that
day, as they are written at full in the very elaborate account given
by Eleonore of Poitiers. Suffice it to say, such joy and profusion
never before reigned in Brussels. The streets of the city flowed with
wine, and blazed with bonfires. Every rich citizen gathered round
his glowing hearth all the friends and relations of his house. Comfits
and spiced hippocra3 fumed in every dwelling; and the christening
of Mary of Burgundy became an epoch of rejoicing in the memory of
men.

One event of that night, however, must be noticed. The fate of
the city of Ghent, whose project of revolt had, in spite of all precau-
tions, become known to the Duke Philip, had been left in the hands
of the Count of Charolois, that prince's son ; and a deputation from
what were then called the three members of Ghent — that is to say,*
from the burghers and nobles, from the united trades, and from the
incorporation of weavers — were even then in Brussels, for the purpose
of imploring mercy and forgiveness. The young Count, whose hasty
and passionate nature was prone to be irritated by anything that
hurried or excited him, had been in such a state of fretful impatience
during the preparations for the baptism of his child, that his wiser
counsellors, who wished much that he should deal clemently with the
Gandois, had concealed their arrival, in hopes of a more favourable
moment presenting itself.

They were not, indeed, deceived in this expectation; and, after
the ceremony was over, and all the splendour he could have wished
had been displayed, without cloud or spot, on the christening of his
child, the heart of the Count seemed to expand, and he gave himself
up entirely to the joy of the occasion. His friends and attendants
determined to seize the moment while this favourable mood continued.
After the infant had been carried back from the church and presented
to its mother, and after the cup and sweetmeats had been handed with
formal ceremony to each of the guests, the Lord of Kavestein called
the Prince's attention to a petition he held from his father's humble
vassals, the citizens of Ghent; and seeing that he received the papei
with a smile, he added the information that the deputies were even
then waiting anxiously without, in what was termed the chambre de
parement. The Count's brow instantly became clouded ; but, without
answering, he beckoned Kavestein, and several others, to follow him
out of the Countess's chamber, in which this conversation had taken
place, and at once entered the apartment in which the burghers were
assembled. There was something in the stern haste of his stride, as
he advanced into the room, which boded little good to the supplicants ;
and his brow gave anything but a favourable presage.

The deputation consisted of about twenty persons, chosen from all
ranks ; and amongst them were two or three who had followed to the
presence of the prince, from motives of curiosity, and a desire, for

» .Although almost all the superficial books of modern date which refer to the
jncient state of Ghent, speak of these three members of states, as the ecclesiastics,
toe nobles, and th«i commons, the statement in the text is correct, which may b*
ascertained by retsrring to the Chronicles of George Chatellain, ad ann. 1467.

MART OF BURGCNDT. 39

once, to see the splendours of a royal court, though the reception of
the whole party was not likely to be very gratifying. Amongst the
principal personages of the deputation appeared our good friend Mar-
tin Fruse, who had brought with him his nephew, Albert Maurice ;
and most of the other persons whom we have seen with him in the
forest of Hannut, bore him company also on the present occasion.
Though the burghers of Ghent were sufficiently accustomed to
harangue each other, either in the town-house or the market-place,
and had a good conceit of their own powers of oratory, yet fear, which,
of all the affections of the human mind, is the greatest promoter of
humility, had so completely lessened their confidence in their own
gift of eloquence, that, instead of intrusting the supplication they
were about to make to one of their own body, they had hired a pro-
fessional advocate, from a different town, to plead their cause before
their offended prince.

"Eange out, Messires, range out !" were the first ungracious words
of the Count of Charolois; "range out, and let me see the lovely
faces of the men who would fain have excited our father's subjects
to revolt."

By his orders, the deputies from Ghent were arranged in a semi-
circle before him ; and, according to etiquette, the whole party dropped
upon one knee ; though some went farther, and bent both to the
ground. In the meantime, their advocate pronounced a long, florid,
and frothy harangue, after the manner of that day, and calling David,
Solomon, and many others, both sacred and profane, to his aid, as
examples of clemency, besought the Count to show mercy to the
repentant citizens of Ghent.

The heir of Burgundy appeared to give little attention to the
studied and unnatural oration of the advocate, but continued rolling
his eyes over the countenances of the supplicants, with a bent brow,
and a smile, which — as a smile always proceeds from some pleasura-
ble emotion — could only arise from the gratification of pride and
revenge, at the state of abasement to which he saw the revolted Gan-
dois reduced.

When the orator had concluded, the Count replied: — "Men of
Ghent, I have heard that in all time ye have been turbulent, discon-
tented, factious, like a snarling cur that snaps at the hand that feeds
it, but crouches beneath the lash : think not that you shall escape-
without due punishment ; for know, that it is as much the duty of a
prince to punish the criminal, as to protect the innocent."

He paused, and no one ventured to reply, except the boy Albert
Maurice, who, grasping the hilt of the small dagger, which persons of
almost all ages or ranks than wore, muttered, in a tone not quite in-
audible, the words " Insolent tyrant."

Whether these words caught the ear of any one else or not, they
were, at all events, loud enough to reach that of the Count of Charo-
lois ; and, taking one stride forward, he struck the youth a blow, with
the palm of his open hand, which laid him almost senseless on the
ground.

A momentary confusion now ensued ; the nobles and attendants
interposed, to prevent any farther act of unprincely violence; the boy
was hurried away out of the room ; several of the deputies made
their escape, fearing the immediate consequences of the prince'f

c

S3 MA»r or bukgundt.

fury; and the Count of Ravestein endeavoured to persuade fate
cousin, Charles of Burgundy, to quit the apartment, terrified lest he
should proceed to measures which would throw the Gandois into open
rebellion.

He was mistaken, however ; the rage of the Count had evaporated
in the blow he had struck ; and, somewhat ashamed of the act of
passion he had committed, he endeavoured to make it seem, both
to himself and to those around him, not the effect of hasty wrath —
which it really was — but the deliberate punishment of an insolent
boy.

To Ravestein's remonstrances and entreaties for him to leave the
apartment, he replied by a loud laugh, demanding, "Thinkest thou I
could be moved to serious anger by a malapert lad like that ? He
spoke like a spoiled boy, and I have given Mm the chastisement
suited to a spoiled boy ; with these men of Ghent, I shall deal as
towards men."

He was about to proceed, and was resuming the stern air with
which he had formerly addressed the deputies, when the Dauphin,
stepping forward, spoke to him in a low tone, as if to prevent his
intercession from being apparent, though his gesture and manner
were quite sufficient to show the burghers that he was pleading in
their behalf. The Count of Charolois had not yet learned all the
intricate duplicity of Louis's character, and took it for granted that,
while he interceded for the people of Ghent, he did really — as he
affected to do — desire that they should be ignorant of his generous
efforts in their favour.

" Well, be it so, my princely cousin," he replied, smoothing his
ruffled brow ; " the godfather of my child shall not be refused his
first request to me, upon the very day of her baptism ; but, by my
faith! the honour of this good act shall rest where it is due — with
you not with me. Know, men of Ghent, that you have a better ad-
vocate here than this man of many words whom you have brought
to plead your cause. My noble cousin, Louis of France, condescends
to intercede for you, and ye shall be pardoned, upon the payment of
a moderate fine. But, remember ! offend not again ; for, by the Lord
that lives ! if ye do, I will hang ten of each of your estates over the
gates of the city. What have ye there?" he added, suddenly, point-
ing to some large objects, wrapped in violet-coloured linen, and car-
ried by two or three stout attendants, who had followed the men of
Ghent to the prince's presence; " what have ye there ?"

"A humble offering, my lord the Count," replied Martin Fruse,
rising from his knees, and walking towards the object which had
attracted the attention of the Count of Charolois ; " a humble offer-
ing from the city of Ghent to our noble Count, upon the birth of his
fair daughter; though that foolish advocate forgot to mention all
about it in his speech."

"Well for ye that he did so!" exclaimed the Count; "for had
he attempted to bribe me to forget justice, I doubt much whether
one of the deputies of Ghent would have quitted these palace walls
alive."

" But only look at them, my lord the Count," said Martin Fruse,
whose all engrossing admiration of the rich presents they had brought
made him insensible to the stern tone in which the prince had been

MARY OP BURGUNDT. 87

epeaking. " Only look at them ; they are so beautiful ;" and so saying,
he removed the linen which covered them, and exposed to view three
large and richly chased vases of massive silver. Certainly their
effect upon all present very well justified the commendations which
he had bestowed upon their beauty, and his censure of the advocate
for not mentioning them before.

Both Charles of Burgundy and the Dauphin took an involuntary
step forward, to look at them more nearly. But the eyes of Louis,
who was fonder of the examination of the human heart, than of the
finest piece of workmanship ever produced by the hands of man, were
soon turned to the face of his cousin ; and, as he marked the evident
admiration which was therein expressed, he said, with a frank laugh,
which covered well the sneer that was lurking in his speech —
"By my faith, fair cousin, I think the advocate was in the wrong."

" Good troth, but I think so too," replied the Count, joining in the
laugh. " Well, my friends," he continued, addressing the deputies
ia a very different tone from that which he had formerly used ; "get
you gone and be cautious for the future how ye listen to the delusive
words of vain and ambitious men: the master of our household will
see that ye are well entertained with white bread, good wine, and all
the dainties of a christening ; and as for the boy 1 struck," he added,
taking a gold brooch or fermail from the bosom of his own vest, and
putting it into the hands of Martin Fruse, " give him that to heal
the blow. There, set down the vases on that table. We thank you
for them ; and by our faith, we will show them to our lady there
within."

With many a lowly reverence the men of Ghent withdrew, very
well satisfied to have obtained pardon on easy terms. Young Al-
bert Maurice was found below, fully recovered from the blow he had
received ; but it was in no degree effaced from his memory. His
uncle immediately presented him with the rich brooch which the
Count had sent, never doubting but the boy would be delighted with
the present ; but, the moment he received it, he dashed it down
upon the ground, and setting his foot upon it, trampled it to atoms.

What he muttered at the same time was unheard by any one but
his uncle. The effect upon him, however, was such as to turn him
deadly pale ; and after having tasted of the Count's wine, that he
might not be suspected of disaffection, he hurried his nephew away to
the house of a friendly citizen of Brussels, miserable, to all appear-
ance, till he had got the boy beyond the walls of the palace.

CHAPTER VI.

We have now concluded one period -of our tale, and must beg the
reader to leap boldly over nearly twenty years. In regard to the
events which intervened, of some we shall here give a slight sketch
before proceeding ; some we shall leave to unravel themselves in the
course of the after history.

Take any body of men, as many in number as the characters which
we have introduced already, and it will be seldom found that, at the
end of so great a lapse of time, the whole are still upon the busy stage
o£ life; nevertheless, such was the case in the present instance.

S8 MARY OP BURGITNDT.

Time, the great enemy of man, and of all man's works, had not
leagued himself with death against any of those whom I have particu-
larly noticed. In other respects, however, he had not failed to do his
accustomed work. The 3-outh had grown up into the man ; the man
of middle age was bowed beneath the load of years ; and the infant in
the cradle had reached the blossoming days of womanhood.

Of her, then, whose birth and baptism we have just commemorated,
we shall speak in the first place, before proceeding to notice the
change which had occurred in the other characters which we have
brought upon the scene. Her infancy passed in the midst of prospe-
rity and happiness, while the territories which she was destined to
inherit flourished under the dominion of her grandfather — that wise
And virtuous prince, who redeemed the errors of his early years by the
generous patriotism of his latter days, and both merited and obtained,
from neighbouring princes and his native subjects, the noble appella-
tion of Philip the Good ; and while under the eye of her own gentle
mother, her education proceeded in calm tranquillity, and her home
reposed in peace.

Scarcely had she attained the age of ten years, however, ere, left
alone under the guidance of a severe and imperious father, she found
that, according to the common fate of those in the highest stations,
her lot was to be anything but happy. Gentle, kind, obedient, she
endeavoured, by making her inclinations the slaves of her father's
will, to obtain, at least, peace, by yielding to duty. Her hopes and
expectations were, nevertheless, in vain. The continual perils to
which Charles the Bold exposed himself, of course, kept his family in
constant alarm and agitation ; and the frequent and capricious changes
of his policy, without obtaining for himself or his country any real
advantage, only served to wring his daughter's heart.

After the death of his second wife, Isabel de Bourbon, the desire of
a male heir induced him speedily to marry again; and the hatred
which he had, by that time, conceived for Louis XI. made him choose
for his bride Margaret of York, the sister of the king of England. His
hopes of a son were disappointed ; but upon his daughter, Mary of
Burgundy, his marriage conferred an inestimable benefit. Margaret
of York fully replaced in kindness and affection the mother she had
lost; and habituated early herself to cares, to sorrows, and to dangers,
she instilled into the mind of her step-daughter that patient fortitude
which she had acquired in so bitter a school ; and taught her, in all
circumstances, both to bear up against despair, and to endure without
complaint.

As years rolled on, the hand of the undoubted heiress of all Bur-
gundy and Flanders became, of course, an object of ambition to many
of the princes of Europe ; and from the time that Mary reached the
age of fifteen, to obtain possession of her person, was a matter of open
negotiation and subtle intrigue to all the neighbouring sovereigns.
The brother of the King of France, the Duke of Calabria, the Prince
of Tarentum, and the Duke of Savoy, became successively the suitors
for her hand ; and her father, to each and all, held out hopes and ex-
pectations, which he either never intended to fulfil, or found cause to
disappoint. The most selfish of sovereigns, and, perhaps, of men, the
feelings of his child were never consulted throughout the whole trans-
ections which followed. He looked upon her simply as an object of

MAItY OF BURGUNDY. 39

policy, a human seal, which, at his will, was to be affixed to the char-
ter of conveyance, destined to give to some neighbouring prince the
succession of his vast dominions.

Luckily, however, it so happened, that Mary had made up her mind
to her fate, and so guarded her own heart and feelings, that in her
eyes all men seemed indifferent till the sanction of her father war-
ranted the gift of her affections. Thus she beheld treaties commenced
and broken, her hand promised and refused, without either pain or
pleasure, till, at length, a suitor appeared, who, with all those advan-
tages which could satisfy the political ambition of her father, pos-
sessed ail those qualities of mind and person calculated to gain her
heart. Brave, chivalrous, and accomplished, graceful and well-formed
in person, and handsome in features, Maximilian, son of the Emperor
Frederick, displayed, at the same time, all that native kindness of
heart, which, giving a gentle courtesy to the whole demeanour, is fai
more winning than the most splendid acquirements ; and such qualities
might have been quite sufficient to gain the heart of the heiress of
Burgundy. Other things, indeed, were required by her father ; but be-
sides these personal qualities, he was the son of the richest monarch in
Europe, the heir of the duchy of Austria, and would be, undoubtedly,
successor to the imperial throne itself. Every object seemed attained
by such an alliance ; and when, after appearing two years successively
at the court of Burgundy, Maximilian demanded the hand of the
beautiful heiress of the land, Mary, for the first time, heard with joy
that it was promised to the new aspirant.

Long negotiations succeeded ; and it was agreed that the duchy of
Burgundy, freed from its homage to the crown of France, should be
erected into an independent kingdom.

A grand meeting of the Imperial and Burgundian courts was ap-
pointed at Treves, for the conclusion of^the marriage ; and Charles
the Bold, with his daughter, accompanied by a train of unrivalled
splendour, set out for the place of rendezvous. Mary's heart beat
high as she entered the ancient city ; and now, taught to look upon
Maximilian as her future husband, she yielded her whole heart to the
influence of her first affection. But the greedy ambition of her father
was destined to overthrow, for a time, all those airy fabrics of happi-
ness, of which her hopes, and her imagination, had been the architects.
Charles insisted that the title of king should be granted to him pre-
vious to his daughter's marriage; while the Emperor, who had
watched his capricious changes on other occasions, with a jealous and
somewhat indignant eye, refused to confer the title he sought, till the
band of the heiress of Burgundy was irrevocably bestowed upon his
son. Charles argued, and railed, and threatened in vain; and at
length the Emperor, wearied with his pertinacity, and offended by his
intemperate violence, suddenly broke up his court, and left him, mad
with rage and disappointment, to carry back his daughter to Brus-
sels, with her heart bleeding in secret from the cruel wounds it had
received.

Other negotiations succeeded with other princes ; and though Mary
heard with apprehension and terror, of each new proposal, the capri-
cious uncertainty of her father's disposition saved her from the still
bitterer pangs of yielding her hand to another, while her heart wa»
really given to Maximilian.

*0 MART OF B0RGUNDT

In the meantime, disputes and wars took place ; the projects of her
marriage languished, or were abandoned ; and while her father has-
tened to the last fatal field, where his military renown was extin-
guished in his blood, she remained with her gentle stepmother in.
Ghent, to weep the perils to which her parent's mad ambition exposed
him, and to tremble at the sight of every packet that reached her
from the Burgundian camp.

Such were the changes and events which had affected the fate of
Mary of Burgundy, since we depicted her as an infant, born shortly
after the arrival of the Dauphin at the court of Brussels. Over the
Dauphin himself, great alterations still had come in the course of
passing years. From an exiled prince, he had become the king of a
mighty nation ; and time had stolen away all the graces of youth, and
all those better feelings, and nobler emotions, which, in the freshness
of early life, are more or less imparted to every human being, what-
ever may be the portion of selfish cunning added to neutralize them.
However beneficial might be his policy to the country over which he
ruled, however much his acts might advance the progress of society
in Europe, and lead forward the world to a state of more general free-
dom and civilization, his objects were mean and personal, and indivi-
dual ambition of the lowest kind was the motive for all his cunning
echemes and artful policy. An immortal pen has, in our own day,
portrayed his character with unequalled skill ; and of Louis XL at
this period of his life, nothing farther can be said, than that he was
the Louis XI. of Sir Walter Scott.

Of those who accompanied him on his journey, Thibalt of Neufcha-
tel, Marshal of Burgundy, still remained: a weather-beaten warrior,
and still, in a certain sense, a haughty noble. Though age, with its
infirmities, had somewhat broken his strength, and had also softened
his heart, he was ready at all times, nevertheless, to spring into the
saddle at the trumpet's call: but so much, indeed, had he learned to
look upon the inferior ranks with a milder eye, that he had become
rather popular than otherwise; and amongst the peasants and burgh-
ers was generally known, at this time, by the name of the good Count
Thibalt. The taint of pride still remained ; but its operation was
directed in a different manner ; and young nobles, and new soldiers,
who were not always inclined to pay as much respect to the old
officer's opinion as he thought his due, now monopolized the scorn
which he had formerly bestowed upon the citizens ; while the degree
of popularity he had lately acquired among the lower classes, and the
deference with which they invariably treated him, contrasting strongly
with the self-sufficient arrogance of some of his youthful compeers,
soothed his pride, gratified his vanity, and made him, day by day,
more bending and complacent to those whom he had formerly de-
spised.

On good Martin Fruse, the passing of twenty years had brought, if
not a green, at least a fat old age. He was not unwieldy, however;
was rosy, and well respected amongst his fellow citizens for his
wealth, for his wisdom, and for his many memories of the mighty
past; and, in short, good Master Fruse was, in person and appearance,
a man who had gone happily through many changes, increasing iq
jriches, honour, and comfort, with very few cares to prey upon his
mind, and scarcely an ailment through life to shatter bis body. As

MAEY OF BURGUNDT. 41

he had proceeded, however, experience had done its work : and while
he had become wiser, and had really obtained a greater insight into
affairs of policy, he had grown less vain, and willingly restrained his
personal efforts to composing the municipal squabbles of his native
city, and directing the efforts of his townsmen for the extension of
their commerce and the improvement of their manufactures.

His nephew, Albert Maurice, had been differently changed by the
wand of the enchanter Time. His mind, indeed, was one of those
firm, fixed, and steadfast essences, on which the passing of years
make but little alteration, except by expanding their capabilities by
the exercise of their powers. From a boy, it is true he had grown
into a powerful and handsome man; and, though in partnership with
his uncle, he held the peaceful station of a rich merchant of Ghent,
yet he was skilled in all military exercises ; and, when the communes
of Flanders had been called to the field, on pressing occasions, amongst
the various struggles of that eventful period, he had shown knowledge,
courage, and address, which had excited the wonder, and perhaps the
jealousy, of many of those noble warriors who looked upon the trade
of war as peculiarly their own. Whenever he returned home again,
however, from the camp, he sunk at once into the citizen ; seemed to
forget or to despise his military skill ; and, though gay and splendid
amongst his own class, far from courting popularity, he appeared to
conceal purposely the deep thoughts and striking qualities of his
mind. Once or twice, indeed, he had been heard to burst into an
eloquent and indignant rebuke to some of the nobles, on the occasion
of the haughty vexations which they continually exercised upon the
lower classes; but he seemed to regret his words as soon as spoken;
and — as if he knew that, at some time, a fearful and deadly contest
must arise between himself and the oppressors of his class, and strove
anxiously, and with a feeling of awe, to delay it as long as possible —
he avoided all matter of quarrel with the nobility of Ghent, or with
the officers of the Duke of Burgundy. He seemed desirous of closing
his eyes to subjects of offence ; and, when he heard of a brawl in any
neighbouring part of the town, or when the other young citizens called
upon him to take a lead in their frequent tumults, he would either
quit the place for the time, or shut himself sternly in his own dwel-
ling, in order to avoid any participation in the dangerous occurrences
that were talcing place.

On one of these occasions, when the city of Ghent, though not in
open revolt, was keeping up an angry discussion with the high offi-
cers of the duke, Albert Maurice, then in his twenty-fourth year,
obtained his uncle's consent to travel into Italy, for the purpose of
superintending some transactions which their house was carrying on
with the merchant lords of Venice. In that sweet climate, the nurse
of arts and too often of crimes, he acquired an elegance of taste, and a
grace of manner, unknown to the burghers of his native place. He
came home, skilled in many arts with which they were unacquainted ;
and, had his spirit been less powerful, his talents less commanding, it
is not improbable that his fellow citizens might have contemned or
laughed at acquirements which they had not learned to appreciate,
and might have scorned the travelled coxcomb who brought home
strange modes and fashions to his native land. But Albert Maurice
made a show of none ; and it was only upon long solicitation, or oa

42 MARY OF BUKGUNDT.

some moment of joyous festivity, that he would sing the sweet songs
of a softer people, and accompany himself with instruments unknown
in his own country.

His personal beauty, and the fascinating grace of his manners, made
him seem a creature of a different race, and his superiority in every
quality, both of mind and body, to those around him, might have been
a blessing, had he not felt it himself; but he did feel it, and of course
was discontented: and who can doubt that anything which makes
man discontented with his state, without giving him the certainty of
a better, is a curse ? All eyes turned upon him with satisfaction ; and
many a soft, kind heart would willingly have given itself to 'tim ; but his
thoughts were of another kind, and he could see none to love amongst
the many by whom he was admired. The fair girls of Ghent — and
many a fair girl was then, and is now, within its walls — thought him
cold and proud, and blamed him for what was his misfortune, not his
fault. His heart was one on which love might have taken as firm a
hold as on that of any man that ever burned or died for women since
the world began : but he sought for his equal — I do not mean in rank,
for that he never heeded — but in mind; and he found none such
within the number of all he knew.

Shut out by circumstance from the higher ranks of society, the
finer feelings, the better aspirations of his soul, were matter for a
thousand disgusts ; and though a native sense of what is noble in it-
self, and just to others, made him laboriously conceal the very supe-
riority which he felt, as well as its consequences, yet the conversation,
the manners, the thoughts of those around him, even those with
whom he was most intimately allied, were constant sources of hidden
pain and annoyance. He lived amongst the people of Ghent, and he
strove to live with them ; and so far did he succeed, that though his
talents and his occasional reserve made his townsfolk look upon him
with no small reverence, the urbanity of his manners, when brought
into casual contact with the other citizens, gained him a far greater
degree of popularity than any general familiarity could have won.

The union of pride and ambition — and he had both qualities in his
bosom — usually leads the man, whose mind is so constituted, to seek
to rise into the class above him : but both his pride and his ambition
were too potent for that. He was proud of the very difference be-
tween his station and himself; he had a deep and settled love, too, ot
his country, and even of his class ; and while his ambition was of a
quality which would have snatched at empire had there been a hope
of success, the hatred and contempt in which he held the nobles were
far too great for him to covet aught but the power to trample them
down amongst those ranks whom they now oppressed.

Such had some of the characters, whom we have attempted to de-
pict at an early period of life, become, under the passing of twenty
years. Time, in short, had done his wonted work on all : had ex-
panded the bud and blossom into the green leaf and the flower, and
had changed the flower and the shoot into the ready fruit and the
ripened ear. But there are others yet to be spoken of, and to them
we will new return.

MARY OP BUHGUNDr. 43

CHAPTER Vn.

The withering power of Time — which, in brief space, can make such
havoc on man, and all man's works, that friend shall scarce know
friend, and grass shall have swallowed up the highways — is impotent
against the ever renewing vigour of Nature ; and in the forest of
Hannut, the twenty years which had passed, seemed scarcely to show
the difference of a day. Green oaks were withered, it is true ; the
lightning had scathed the pine and rent the beech ; the woodman's
axe had been busy here and there ; but, in constant succession, the
children of the wood had grown up to take the place of those which
had fallen ; and the most discerning eye could scarce have traced a
single change in all the forest scene around.

Days seemed to have altered, however, and manners to have
changed in the forest of Hannut ; for, instead of very equivocal look-
ing soldiers, and travellers who wandered on with fear and trembling,
there was now to be seen, near the very same cascade by the side of
which we opened this book, a gay, light party, whose thoughts ap-
peared all of joy, and to whom terror seemed perfectly a stranger.
That party consisted of three principal personages, with their attend-
ants ; and, mounted on splendid horses, whose high spirit, though
bowed to the most complete obedience to man's will, was in no de-
gree dimished, they rode gaily across the bridge, and paused by the
side of the stream.

The first whom we shall notice — a powerful young cavalier, who
might be in the thirtieth year of his age, who might be less, sun-
burnt, but naturally fair, strong in all his limbs, but easy and grace-
ful in his movements — sprang to the ground as they approached the
waterfall ; and laying his hand on the gilded bridle of a white jennet
that cantered on by his side, he assisted the person who rode it to
dismount.

She was a fair, beautiful girl, of about eighteen or nineteen years
of age, round whose broad white forehead fell clusters of glossy light
brown hair ; her eyebrows and her eyelashes, however, were dark ;
and through the long deep fringe of the latter looked forth a pair of
blue and laughing eyes, which beamed with the same merry happi-
ness that curled the arch of her sweet lips.

Two of the attendants who followed, hurried forward to hold the
bridle and the stirrup of the third person of the party, who dismounted
more slowly, as became the gravity of his years. Time, indeed, had
not broken, and had hardly bent him ; but evidences of the iron-
handed conqueror's progress were to be traced in the snowy hair and
beard, which had once been of the deepest black ; and in the long fur-
rows strongly marked across the once smooth brow. In other re-
spects the Lord of Hannut was but little chaiiged. The same dark,
grave cast of countenance remained ; the same spare, but vigorous
form ; though, indeed, without appearing to stoop, his height seemed
somewhat diminished since last we brought him before the reader's
eyes. A gleam of affectionate pleasure lighted up his countenance,
as he marked the graceful gallantry with which his young companioa
aided the fair girl who accompanied them to dismount ; and when,

<S4 MART OF BURGUNDY".

after having rendered his service to the lady, the cavalier turned te
offer him his arm also, with a sort of half apology for not having done
so before, he replied, smiling — "Thou art better employed dear boy
think'st thou I have so far forgotten my chivalry as to grudge the at-
tention thou bestow'st upon a lady ? Here, spread out here," he con-
tinued, turning to the attendants and pointing to the green short
turf which carpeted the bank of the stream just below the waterfall ;
" we could not find a better place for our meal than this."

By the birds which they carried on their wrists, it was evident that
the whole party had been flying their hawks, the favourite amuse-
ment, at that time, of the higher classes throughout Manders. They
now, however, seated themselves to a sort of sylvan dinner which was
spread upon the turf by the attendants, who — with that mixture of
familiarity and respect which were perfectly compatible with each
other, and usual in those days, and in such sports — sat down with
persons of higher rank, at once to partake of the fare, and assist them
at their meal.

The conversation was gay and lively, especially between the two
younger persons whom we have noticed. They were evidently in
habits of intimacy ; and on the cavalier's part there appeared that
tender but cheerful attention to his fair companion, which argued
feelings of a somewhat warmer nature than kindred affection, yet
without any of that apprehension which love, if the return be doubt-
ful, is sure to display. Her manner was of a different kind ; it was
not less affectionate, it was not less gentle, but it was of that light
and playful character, under which very deep and powerful attach-
ment sometimes endeavours to conceal itself: the timidity which
hides itself in boldness, the consciousness of feeling deeply, which
sometimes leads to the assumption of feeling little. It was under-
stood, however, and appreciated by her lover, who, possibly, had taken
some more serious moment, when the light and active guardian of
the casket slept, to pry into the secret of the heart within.

Love, however, it would appear, is insatiable of assurances ; and,
probably, it was on some fresh demand for a new, or greater acknow-
ledgment, that the lady replied to a half-whispered speech : " Cer-
tainly, dear Hugh ! Can you doubt it? I will try, with all my mind
to love you ; for, as we are to be married, whether we love each other
or not, it is but good policy to strive to do so if it be possible." And
as she spoke, she fixed her eyes upon her companion's face, with a
look of malicious inquiry, as if to see what effect the lukewarmness of
her speech would produce upon a heart she knew to be sufficiently
susceptible.

He only laughed, however, and replied, " Sing me a song, then,
dear Alice, to cheer these green woods, and make me think you love
me better than you do."

" Not I, indeed," replied the young lady. " In the first place, I
would not cheat you for the world ; and in the next place, neither
6ong nor pastourelle, nor sirvente, nor virelai, will I ever sing till I am
asked in song myself. Sing, sing, Hugh! You have been- at the
bright court of France, and are, I know, a master of the gate science.
Sing the light lay you sang yester evening ; or some other, if you
know one. It matters not which."

" Be it so, if you will sing afterwards," replied the young cavalier;

MAE.' OF CL'IIC'JSDI. 45

and without farther question than an inquiring glance towards the
Lord of Hannut, he sang, in a full, rich, melodious voice, one of the
common songs of the day, which was not altogether inapplicable to
her speech. The words, though in a different language, were some-
what to the following effect : —

SONG.
Sing in the days of the spring-time, beloved ;

In those days of sweetness, oh, sing to me!
When all things by one glad spirit are moved,

From the sky-lark to the bee.

Sing in the days, too, of summer-time, dearest;

In those days of fire, oh, sing to me then !
When suns are the brightest, and skies are clearest,

Sing, sing in the woods again.

Sing to me still in the autumn's deep glory ;

In the golden fall-time, oh, be not mute !
Some sweet, wand'ring ditty from ancient story,

That well with the time may suit.

Sing to me still in the dark hours of sadness,

When winter across the sky is driven -,
But sing not the wild tones of mirth and gladness!,

Then sing of peace and heaven.

" A pretty song enough, for a man to sing," observed the young
lady, as her lover concluded ; " but, as I do not choose to be dictated
to by anybody, I shall even sing you such a song as suits me myself,
whether in season or out of season. What say you, dearest uncle ?"
she added, turning to the Lord of Hannut; and laying the fair
rounded fingers of her soft hand upon his, " What shall I sing him ?"
And as she spoke, she raised her eyes towards the sky, as if trying
to remember some particular lay from amongst the many that she
knew ; but scarcely had she done so, when an involuntary cry burst
from her lips — " Good Heaven!" she exclaimed, " there are armed
men looking at us from the top of the bank: there, there !"

Every one started up, and turned their eyes in the direction which
hers had taken. There was, indeed, a rustle heard amongst the trees ;
and a stone or two, detached from above, rolled down the crag and
plunged into the stream at its foot. But no one was to be seen ; and,
after gazing for a moment in silence, the lover beckoned one of his
attendants to follow, and bounding up the most difficult part of the
cliff, notwithstanding the fair girl's entreaty to forbear, he plunged
into the brushwood, in pursuit of the person who had disturbed their
tranquillity.

"You are dreaming, my fair Alice," said the Lord of Hannut;
" and have sent poor Hugh de Mortmar on a foolish errand."

"Nay, indeed, uncle," replied Alice, " I dreamed not at all. I am
not one to dream in such a sort. For Heaven's sake ! bid one ride
to bring us assistance, and send some of the men up to aid poor Hugh ;
for, as sure as I live, I saw two or three faces with steel caps above,
looking through the branches of the trees. Hark ! do you not hear
voices ? Climb up, sirs, if you be men, and aid your young lord."

The attendants looked to the baron ; and on his part, the Lord of
Hannut only smiled with an air of incredulity ; when, much, indeed,

46 MART OF BURGOrY.

to the surprise of Alice, her lover appeared above the moment after ;
and, springing easily down the rock, declared that all was clear
beyond.

She gazed on him for a moment in serious silence, and then merely
replied — " It is very strange!" Hugh de Mortmar cast himself down
again by her side, and once more pressed her to sing ; but it was in
vain. Alice was agitated and alarmed ; and finding it impossible to
shake off her terror, she besought her uncle to break up the party
and return to the castle, notwithstanding assurances from all that
she must have been deceived by the waving of some of the boughs,
or the misty spray of the cataract.

Finding, at length, that to reason with her was fruitless, her uncle
agreed to return ; and the horses being led forward, the whole party
remounted, and, with their hawks once more upon their hands, made
the best of their way back towards the castle of Hannut. For the
first two or three miles, Alice continued anxiously to watch every
opening of the trees on either side of the road ; remaining in such a
state of alarm, that her falcon's wings were continually flapping, from
the agitated haste with which she turned to gaze on every object
that they passed on the road. It was only when they came within
sight of the vassal town, and the castle on its high rock, about half a
mile beyond, that she seemed to consider herself in safety ; and the
long, deep breath she drew, as they passed through the barbacan,
announced what a load was taken off her mind when she found her-
self within the walls of her uncle's castle."

" You have dwelt so long in cities, dear Alice,'' said the Lord of
Hannut, laughing, "that the forest is a strange world to you; and
your imagination peoples it with creatures of its own. I shall write
to your father, my good Lord of Imbercourt, to say, that he must
leave you many a month with me yet, till we have cured you of see-
ing these wild men of the woods."

" Nay, uncle," replied the young lady, who had by this time re-
covered her playful spirits, and looked up in his face as she spoke,
with a smile of arch meaning ; " if I were to be terrified with imagi-
nary things, I can tell you I should not have come at all ; for my
maids have got many a goodly story of the castle of Hannut and its
forest, ay, and of its lord to boot ; and, on the morning after our ar-
rival, I found that they had all burnt shoes and twisted necks, with
sitting the whole of the night before, with their feet in the fire and
their heads turned over their shoulders."

The Lord of Hannut heard her with a melancholy smile. " And
hadst thou no fear thyself, my fair Alice?" he demanded ; " didst thy
imagination never fill the dark end of the chamber with sprites and
hobgoblins ?"

" Nay, nay, in truth, not I !" replied the young lady ; " such things
have no terrors for me ; but when I saw three armed men looking
down upon us in the forest, and thought that there might be thirty
more behind, there was some cause for terror."

The Lord of Hannut and Hugh de Mortmar — in whom the reader
has, doubtless, by this time discovered that Hugh of Guildres who,
twenty years before, was found sleeping by the cascade — looked at
each other with a meaning smile, but replied nothing ; and, indeed,
the conversation was here brought to a conclusion by a variety of ?jn-

MARY CFBUEGUNDT. CT

wonted sounds which now suddenly rose up from the forest below.
Seldom ft as it, in truth, that those wild woods rang with the clang of
charging horse, and echoed to the blast of the trumpets ; but such
was the case in the present instance ; and, as the sounds came borne
upon the wind through the open windows, the brow of the Lord of
Hannut darkened, and his eye flashed, while the cheek of the younger
cavalier flushed as if with anger.

" By the Lord ! our fair Alice is right, it would seem !" cried
Hugh de Mortmar : " there are more men in the wood than we
thought for. What, ho ! warder !" he exclaimed, leaning from the
narrow window, and shouting to some one stationed in the gallery of
a small slender tower, which, more like some Moorish minaret than
anything else, rose, towering above all the others on the opposite side
of the court-yard. " What, ho ! warder, what seest thou down in the
woods below ? By the Lord ! there is another blast," he added, as
the trumpets again echoed through the woods.

The next moment the loud voice of the warder was heard in reply :
" I see a plump of spears under the arms of Burgundy, running down
a handful of the green riders ; but they have not caught them yet.
They come closer : they come closer," he added ; " but the riders
make face ; they turn again, and spur on ; the men-at-arms are
thrown out ; but I can see no more, my lord ; they have all got be-
neath the haggard hill."

" Sound the ban-cloche, ho !" exclaimed the young cavalier : " arm,
and saddle! arm, and saddle, below there!" he continued, shouting
to some of the groups who were assembled in the court-yard. " I
would fain see who it is," he added, turning to the Lord of Hannut,
"who dares to hunt down any men in these woods, your free domain,
without your good leave, my lord."

" Beware, Hugh, beware !" said the Lord of Hannut, holding up
his hand with a monitory gesture.

" I will, I will, indeed, my lord," he replied ; " I will be most cau-
tious." So saying, he sprang down the steps into the court-yard, and,
while the great bell, or ban-cloche rang out its warning peal over hill
and dale, he gave rapid orders for arming a small body of men ; and
was springing on his own horse to lead them down to the valley, when
the warder called from above, announcing that the party of Burgun-
dians he had before seen, together with a considerable troop of stran-
gers, were winding up the steep road that led directly to the castle.

Hugh de Mortmar paused ; and the instant after, a trumpet was
blown at the barbacan, by a squire sent forward by the party to
give notice of the approach of the noble Lord of Imbercourt to the
dwelling of his good brother-in-law of Hannut.

The gates of the castle were immediately thrown open ; the armed
retainers of its lord were drawn up to receive his honoured guest ; and
Alice ran down to meet her father, whose unexpected coming seemed
a gratifying event to all. Hugh de Mortmar, however, lingered be-
hind, conversing for a few moments in a low and hurried tone with the
Lord of Hannut ; and the only words which were heard, " It is strange
that he should have done so in your domains, my lord, a man so
careful in his conduct, as he is in general. They surely would never
dare to attack him" seemed to show that the two gentlemen spoke
of the events which had just taken place in the forest.

48 iSAKY OP BURGUNDY.

While thus conversing, they overtook Alice of Imbercourt, whoaa
impatience had hurried her forward ; and then dropping the subject,
they advanced with her even beyond the grate of the barbacan, and
stood on the edge of the hill, looking down upon the large party that
approached, as it wound slowly up the steep ascent which led to the
castle.

The cavalcade soon came near ; and it became evident, as it did so,
that it comprised two distinct bodies: the one being but partially
armed, and riding under the banner of the Lord of Imbercourt ; the
other being clothed in steel from head to heel, and bearing conspicuous
the cognizance of the House of Burgundy. The first band, however,
was the most numerous, and might consist, perhaps, of a hundred
men-at-arms, independent of a number of grooms, horse-boys, and
varlets, as they were called, leading several spare horses, some per-
fectly unburdened, and some loaded with large quantities of armour,
tied together confusedly with ropes and chains, and so disposed as to
be little burdensome to the horse. The other party seemed to have
no baggage of any kind; and the arms of all sorts which they em-
ployed, they bore about their own persons.

Thus accoutred, both bodies wound on up the slope, glancing in and
out of the scattered wood, which, tinted with all the thousand shades
of the declining sun, clothed the ascent, and cast long marking sha-
dows across the winding road of yellow sand. Now, the horsemen
passing through the depths of the wood could scarcely be distinguished
from the trees amidst which they advanced ; now, emerging from the
overhanging boughs, they stood out clear upon the evening sky, as
their path skirted along the edge of the cliff. At first all appeared
indistinct : one confused mass of horses and riders ; but, soon coming
nearer, the form of each individual horseman became defined; and
gradually their features, as they wore their helmets up, could be dis-
tinguished by those who stood and watched their approach.

At the head of the first party rode a tall, handsome, middle-aged
man, with a countenance which was grave, without being austere.
When within a few yards of the top of the hill, he threw his horse's
rein to a squire, and, springing lightly to the ground, advanced with a
quick step towards the little group of persons assembled to meet him.
Yielding first to natural affection, he cast his arms round his daughter,
Alice of Imbercourt, and pressed her to his bosom. He then saluted
frankly and kindly the Lord of Hannut and Hugh de Mortmar ; and,
as he held their hands in each of his, he said, in a low and hurried
tone intended to meet their ear, and their ear alone, before the rest of
the party came up, " I beseech you, my good brother, and you, my dear
Hugh, whom one day I shall call my son, whatever you may hear
presently, bridle your anger. Your rights have been somewhat vio-
lated by the leader of that band behind ; but I have prevailed upon
him to desist : and both because he is a high officer of our sovereign
lord the duke, and because these times are too threatening from abroad
to admit of feuds between subjects at home, I entreat you to govern
your indignation as much as may be."

The followers of Imbercourt had halted as soon as they reached the
level ground or terrace in face of the barbacan ; and the leader of the
second band, having by this time gained the brow of the hill, now rode
quickly up to the party at the gate. He was a tall, gaunt, bony ma

MAKY OP BURGUNDY. 43

of about forty, with keen eagle's features, and a look of that bold
assurance which proceeds more from animal courage, and a mind con-
tinually upon its guard, than from conscious rectitude of action or
design. He was armed at all points except the head, which was
covered alone by its short curly grizzled hair, while his basinet hung
beside his axe at the saddle-bow. Such was the appearance now borne
by Maillotin du Bac, the famous Prevot Marechal of Burgundy, who,
having been himself one of the most notorious plunderers of the time,
had been appointed by Charles of Burgundy to root out the bands by
which the country was infested, probably on the faith of the old adage,
which recommends us to set a thief to catch a thief.

" You are my Lord of Hannut, fair sir, I presume ?" said the Prevot,
dismounting, and speaking in a coarse, sharp, jarring tone of voice,
only fit for a hangman.

The Lord of Hannut answered by a stately bow, and the other pro-
ceeded : " My good Lord of Imbercourt, here, whom I reverence and
respect, as in duty bound, he being as stout a soldier as he is a worthy
counsellor, has but now prayed, or rather commanded, for he having
taken the responsibility upon himself, I have yielded to his injunc-
tions, has commanded me to desist from pursuing the brigands and plun-
derers who, for many years past, have haunted this forest of Hannut."

" Sir," replied the Lord of Hannut, "I, living within the precincts of
the wood itself, am, it appears, sadly ignorant of what goes on beneath
its shade ; for during nearly twenty years I have heard of no outrage
whatsoever committed within the bounds of my domain. Had I done
so, had any tale of robbery or pillage met my ears, I, as supreme lord,
holding a right of exercising justice both high and low, would not have
failed to clear the territory within my jurisdiction of such gentry as
you mention ; nor shall I certainly suffer any one else to interfere with
my rights within my own lands." •

"My lord! my lord!" replied the Prevot; "I will easily furnish
you with proof that your forest is tenanted as I say. Did we not,
within this half hour, encounter a whole party of as undoubted brigands
as ever lived ?"

" That you attacked some persons in the forest, Sir Prevot, was well
enough seen from the belfry of the castle," rejoined Hugh de Mort-
mar, with a frowning brow ; but whether they were not as honest or
honester persons than yourself, remains to be proved, and shall be
inquired into most strictly. At all events, sir, you have infringed
upon the rights of my uncle, which must be inquired into also. Well,
well, my dear lord," he added, noticing a sign by which the Lord of
Hannut required him to be silent; "well, well, I say no more, than
that these thief-catchers grow too insolent."

The brow of Maillotin du Bac bent, his eyebrows almost met, and
his left hand played ominously with the hilt of his dagger, as he mut-
tered, " Thief-catchers !" But farther discussion was cut short by the
Lord of Hannut, who exclaimed, "Peace, Hugh! peace! we must not
show scant hospitality to any one. Sir Maillotin du Bac, we will speak
farther with you hereafter, on the subjects that you mention; and if
you can prove to us that any outragesof any kind has been committed
within the limits of my domain, both my nephew and myself will do
our best to punish the offenders. But neither duke nor king shall
exercise, within my lordship, the rights which belong alone to me."

SO MARY OF BUBGVNDT.

" Outrage, sir!" rejoined the Prevot; " did not the men who burnt
the house of the Lord of Harghen take refuge in your forests witliin
this month?"

" Whether they did or not, I cannot say," replied the Lord of Han-
nut; "but their burning the house of that audacious villain, the
oppressor of the poor, the plunderer of the widow and the orphan, was
no very evil deed in my eyes. However, let us not bandy words here
at the gate ; we will speak farther this evenipg."

The whole party now passed through the barbacan, and the Lord of
Hannut gave special order to his seneschal to attend to the comfort of
the soldiers, while he himself led his brother-in-law, the Lord of Imber-
court, and a few of that nobleman's most distinguished attendants,
towards the great hall of the castle.

Maillotin du Bac followed boldly, as one of the chief guests; and
finding that no great courtesy was shown him in marshalling the way,
he exclaimed, in a loud and intrusive voice, "My lord! my lord! be-
fore we leave our men, I must crave that you would yield me the use
of a dungeon."

"For your own abode, sir?" demanded Hugh de Mortmar, with not
the most gracious smile in the world.

" No, no," replied the Prevot, " but for yon prisoner there ;" and he
pointed to a part of the court-yard, where two of his followers were
aiding a young man, of a powerful frame and striking appearance, to
dismount from his horse, which was rendered difficult by his arms
being tightly pinioned behind."

" That can be no thief, surely," said Hugh de Mortmar ; " I never
saw a nobler countenance. By his dress, too, he seems a burgher of
the first order."

" The gown does not make the monk," replied Maillotin du Bac, with
a grim smile. " If he be no thiefi he may be something worse. How-
ever, he was not taken on these territories, and therefore, my good
lord, his capture can be no offence to you. For courtesy's sake, and
for the prince's service, I claim the use of a dungeon for this night.
He is a state prisoner, and must be guarded carefully."

"Be it so, Sir Prevot," answered the Lord of Hannut ; " thank God,
all my dungeons are clear at present ; and far be it from me to oppose
the due exercise of your office in the duke's service."

" Said like a worthy lord, as I always held you," replied the Prevot.
"Where shall we bestow him?"

" Koger de Lorens," said the Lord of Hannut, turning to his sene-
schal, "show this worthy gentleman, the Prevot of our lord the duke,
the different prison-rooms beneath the square tower; let him choose
which he will, as most secure; and when he has made his choice, give
him up the key thereof. Be the prisoner under your own charge, Sir
Maillotin du Bac," he added; "yet, for the honour of my dwelling 1
trust that you will let his treatment he as gentle as may be. Let
him have wine and otherrefreshments to keep his spirits up,Ipray you."

" Black bread and foul water would be good enough for him," re-
plied Maillotin du Bac; "but at your request, my lord, he shall have
better fare. Sir Seneschal, I follow you ; lead the way. Ho ! Martin
du Garch, bring along the prisoner."

Thus saying, the Prevot of the Duke of Burgundy, who, though a
knight and a man of good family, had once, as we have before noticed,

MARY OF BUECUNDT. 61

been a notorious adventurer, and had now become the great perse-
cutor of his former comrades, followed the seneschal of Hannut across
the court-yard, towards the passage which led to the dungeons. In
the meanwhile, the Lord of Hannut, Hugh de Mortmar, the Lord of
Imbercourt, and his daughter Alice, advanced to the great hall, where
preparations were already in course for serving the evening meal.

CHAPTER Vni.

While the Prevot of Burgundy had remained within ear-shot, Imber-
court had maintained a profound silence, or, speaking in a low familiar
tone to his daughter, had appeared perfectly inattentive to what was
going on beside him. No sooner, however, had they passed on through
the great hall, and up a flight of steps, into a large sort of withdrawing
room, in which it was the custom of the guests in those days to wash
their hands before dinner, than he closed the door, and earnestly
thanked the two noble gentlemen by whom he was accompanied for
their forbearance on the present occasion. " I have much, much to
tell you, my noble brother-in-law," he said ; " and much on which to
ask your advice. Much have I also to tell you, Hugh," he added,
laying his hand on the arm of the younger of the two noblemen;
" but I must do it in as few words as possible, before we are joined by
that unworthy man, whom we must not offend, though he be part
spy, part hangman, part cut-throat. In the first place, in your soli-
tude here, you scarcely know the state either of the duchy of Bur-
gundy, or of the county of Flanders ; both of which are unhappily in
so dangerous a situation, that it will need infinite moderation, pru-
dence, and skill, on the part of all true lovers of their country, to keep
us from events too fearful to contemplate. Throughout the whole of
Duke Charles's dominions, the nobles are turbulent and discontented;
the citizens rebellious and insolent ; and, to crown all, the duke him-
self, never very temperate in his couduct, seems since the defeat of
Granson, to have given unbridled rein to his fury, and to have cast
all common prudence away as a burdensome incumbrance."

" We have heard, indeed," said the Lord of Hannut, " of his having
hanged a garrison of four hundred Swiss, whom he found in a town
in Lorraine, a most barbarous and inhuman act, which, if he commit
many such, will make all good men abandon him."

" Too true, indeed," replied Imbercourt ; " but I fear this is but a
prelude to greater outrages."

" Ay, and to greater misfortunes," interrupted the Lord of Hannut.
" If there be any truth in the starry influences, he has met with some
deep misfortune already, and will meet with greater still ere long.
When heard you from the duke ?" he added, seeing a doubtful smile
curl the lip of his brother-in-law, as he referred to an art in which
Imbercourt placed less faith than most of his contemporaries.

" Our last news is more than a fortnight old," answered Imbercourt ,
" the duke was then marching rapidly towards the mountains. But
it was not of his intemperance towards the Swiss I was about to speak,
though his conduct to them has been cruel enough. Still they were
enemies ; but he seems resolved to drive the men of Ghent into revolt
also ; and he has commanded his prevot to arrest any one, whether

63 MART OP BURGUNDY.

merchant, mechanic, or noble, who attempts to pass the frontier from
Ghent into France. The prisoner, whom you saw but now, is the
first-fruit of this precious order. That meddling fool, Du Bac, who,
like the tiger, loves blood for blood's sake, takes care to fulfil every
intemperate order of the duke to the very uttermost, especially against
the Gandois, towards whom he and some others of his fellows have a
most deadly hatred. I can hear of no precise offence which the pri-
soner has committed, though his captor has shown me some letters
found upon him, which he would fain construe into treason : and if
they urge the matter farther against him, they will drive the men of
Ghent mad outright. Why, one half of their trade is with France !"

" How is it then, my lord," demanded Hugh, " that you do not inter-
fere to set him at liberty?"

" I dare not for my head," replied Imbercourt. "Besides, I am not
here in the capacity of counsellor : I am now, by the duke's order,
marching to join him with the small force that you see : all, indeed,
that I have been able to raise. But to the object of my coming.
Hugh, the duke needs men, and calls angrily on all his vassals to take
the field. Often and earnestly have I entreated for clemency towards
your father ; and my entreaties have been in vain. One good stroke
in the field, however, done by your hand, were worth more than all
the eloquence that the tongue of man could ever boast. Gather
together what forces you can, and follow me to the camp, under the
name you have at present assumed. I will take care that you shall
have the opportunity of distinguishing yourself; and, from your con-
duct both in Spain and Italy, I fear not but — "

" It is in vain, my lord, it is in vain," replied Hugh de Mortmar.
" Never will I draw my sword for a man who holds my father a close
prisoner : surely it is enough not to draw my sword against him ; and
it has only been for the hope that this fair hand—" and as he spoke
he raised that of Alice, who had been listening, with her deep blue
eyes full of anxious attention — " and it has only been, for the hope
that this fair hand would form a bond, which, uniting the fate of
Imbercourt and Gueldres together, would render them too strong for
tyranny to resist, that I have refrained, during the last year, from
attempting to open the gates of my father's prison by force, while the
oppressor is embarrassed with wars and misfortunes that his own
grasping and cruel disposition has brought upon his head."

" I cannot blame your feelings, Hugh," replied the Lord of Imber-
court, " nor will I hurt you by pointing out the somewhat serious
causes of offence which have induced the duke to treat your father
with so great severity ; but do you, at the same time, moderate your
angry terms, and remember that Charles of Burgundy is my sovereign
lord, my benefactor, and my friend. I think I need say no more."

He spoke with grave and impressive earnestness, and seemed about
60 proceed to some other part of the subject, when the heavy clanging
step of Maillotin du Bac, as he walked nonchalently up the stairs,
from the great hall, into the withdrawing room, warned the Lord of
Imbercourt that a suspicious ear was nigh, and he merely added,
" We will speak more to-night."

The Prevot entered the room with a look of great satisfaction,
slipping at the same time the handle of an enormous key over the
thong of his belt, which he again buckled over his shoulder; so that

MARY OF BURGUNDY. £4

the key, dropping down till it struck against his sword, hung by the
side of the more chivalrous weapon, offering no bad type of the cha-
racter of the wearer.

"Admirable dungeons these, my good Lord of Hannut," he reiterated
as he entered; "Admirable dungeons, admirable dungeons, indeed!
Your own construction, I doubt not, and a good construction it is. I
defy the nimblest cut-purse in the empire to make his way thence,
while this key hangs at my side. The window, indeed, the window
is a little too wide; what the devil the rogues want windows for at
all, I don't understand ; but it is just a thought too wide. I have
known a fat young rogue so starve himself down in a week's time,
that he would get through a hole that would not have passed his thigh
when first he was taken. No fear of yon fellow below, however ; it
would require a precious hole to pass his chest and shoulders."

"Pray, what is the poor youth's offence?" demanded the Lord of
Hannut ; but as the other was about to reply, the pages and varlets,
as the inferiors servants were called in that day, brought in basins,
ewers, and napkins, for the guests to wash, while the trumpets
sounded loud without ; and in a few moments afterwards, the whole
party were seated at their evening meal.

As must always be the case in such meetings, when the ingredients
of the assembly are discrepant in themselves, notwithstanding the
fortuitous circumstances which may for the time have brought them
together, the conversation was broken and interrupted. Sometimes
the loud swell of many voices made, for a minute or two, an unspeak-
able din. Sometimes one or two protracted the conversation in a
lower tone, after the others had ceased; but still, every subject that
was started, dropped after a few minutes' discussion, and the parties
betook themselves again to demolishing the huge piles of meat which,
according to the custom of those times, were set before them. Wine
was in plenty, but all drank sparingly, except the Prevot, and one or
two of the officers who followed the Lord of Imbercourt. Por his
part, Maillotin du Bac seemed determined that, as far as the quality
of his favours went, no jealousy should exist between the trencher and
the pottle-pot. His food swam down his throat in Burgundy, and the
consequences were such as are usual with men of strong constitutions
and well-seasoned brains. He lost not in the least degree the use of
his senses ; but his tongue, on which he was never wont to impose any
very strict restraint, obtained an additional degree of liberty after
the fifth or sixth cup he had quaffed ; and, perceiving the Lord of
Hannut speaking for a few moments in a low tone to his brother-in-
law, lie concluded at once that their conversation must refer to bis
prisoner; and, resuming the subject without farther ceremony, he
replied to the question his entertainer had put to him before dinner
— so abruptly, indeed, that for the moment no one understood what
he meant.

" Offence, indeed!" exclaimed Maillotin du Bac ; " offence enough,
I trow; why now, I'll tell you how it was. We had just come out of
Ivamur, where we had supped, not quite so well as we have done
here, it's true; no matter for that, we had wine enough ; and we wer
quartering ourselves in a little village down below, when one of m
fellows, as stout a hand as ever was born, got saying something civ
to the wife of a draper, just at the door of her shop. What more

64 MAKV OF BURGUNDY.

don't know, but the foolish cullion took it into her head to cry out;
when up comes my young gallant there in the dungeon, and at one
blow fells my fellow, Stephen, to the ground, with a broken jaw.
What the devil business had he with it? If he had been an old lover
of hers, well enough ; but he confesses that he never saw her before
till that moment, and must come up and meddle, because she chose
to squeal like a caught hare."

Hugh de Mortmar turned his eyes upon the Lord of Imbercourt,
who bit his lip, and observed gravely : " Were this all the young
man's offence, Sir Prevot, it would behove us to consider the matter
better before we give way to your hankering for dungeons and cords."
" Ha, ha ! my lord," replied the Prevot, with a grin, " not so great
a fool as that either ! Had I not thought to make more of the good
youth, I would have split his skull where he stood, with my axe; and
his punishment taking place in chaudemehe, as the laws of St. Louis
have it, we should have heard nothing more of the matter: but I knew
the gallant well by sight : one who affects popularity amongst the
turbulent folk of Ghent ; and having orders to arrest all who attempted
to cross the frontier into France, I laid hold of him forthwith, examined
his papers, and found sufficient, with a little good management, to
give him a cool dangle by the neck in the fresh air of some fine Sep-
tember morning. But what need I say more? You yourself have
seen the letters."

"Meddling fool!" muttered Imbercourt to himself; "he will con-
trive to drive the duke's subjects into revolt at home, while lie is
assailed by enemies abroad." This speech, however, passed no farther
than the ears of the two persons next to him. And the conversation
soon turned to the bands of freebooters which, the Prevot stoutly
asserted, harboured in the forest of Hannut.

A few words passed, in an under tone, between Hugh de Mortmar
and the Lord of Hannut ; and at length the old noble proceeded to
discuss with the Prevot of the Duke of Burgundy the infraction of his
rights which had been committed by that officer in the morning. The
Prevot, however, sturdily maintained his ground ; declaring that he
himself, and all his band, consisting of about forty persons, had en-
countered and pursued a considerable body of men, whose appearance
and demeanour left not the slightest doubt in regard to their general
trade and occupation. Going farther still, he appealed to the Lord
of Imbercourt himself, who came up while the freebooters were still
mi sight, and who actually did confirm his account in every particular.
" Well, sir," replied the Lord of Hannut, " since such is the case,
far be it from me to impede the execution of justice. The mainte-
nance of the law within my own territories I have always hitherto
attended to myself, and that so strictly, that for twenty years I have
heard of no outrage within the limits of my own domain — "

" Why, as to that, my lord," interrupted the Prevot, grinning, " we
do hear that you have an especial police of your own : a sort of airy
archers of the guard, who keep better watch and ward than mortal
eyes can do. Nevertheless, I must not neglect my duty, while I am
in the body ; and in doing it, I fear neither man nor spirit."

"I know not, to what you are pleased to allude, sir," replied the
Lord of Hannut, frowning: "nevertheless I may find many means to
punish those who are insolent. However, as you say that you have

MART OP BUBCUNDT. &E

seen evil-disposed persons in the forest, and my Lord of Imbercourt
here confirms your statement, I will grant you permission for one day
to scour the whole of my domain from side to side ; and if you should
find any one strong enough to make head against you, my own vassals
shall be summoned to give you aid. After that day, however, you
must withdraw your troop and retire, nor ever again presume to set
foot within my bounds without my permission."

" One day, my lord," replied the Prevot, " will be hardly — "

" I shall grant no more, sir," said the lord of Hannut, rising from
the table, in which example he was followed by several of his guests ;
"I shall grant no more, sir; and the concession which I make, proceeds
solely from a feeling of respect for my good lord the Duke of Burgundy.
Though I rise," he added, addressing all the party from a general
feeling of courtesy, " though I rise, do not hold it, gentlemen, as a
signal to break off your revelry. Spare not the flagon, I beseech you;
and here are comfits and spices to give zest to your wine."

Thus saying, he retired from the hall ; and, leading the way to the
battlements, entered into a long, and, to them, interesting conversa-
tion with Imbercourt and Hugh de Mortmar, as we shall continue to
call the son of the imprisoned Duke of Gueldres.

With all his eloquence, however, Imbercourt failed to persuade the
young cavalier to join the armies of the Duke of Burgundy. To every
argument he replied, that men fought for their friends, not their ene-
mies ; and such he should ever hold Charles of Burgundy to be, till
Adolphus of Gueldres was set at liberty. All that could be obtained
from him was a promise not to attempt his father's liberation by arms,
till one more effort had been made to persuade Charles the Bold to
grant his freedom upon other terms.

" Consider well, Hugh, the peculiar situation in which you stand,"
said the Lord of Imbercourt; "the secret of your birth rests with
myself and my good brother here alone ; but did the duke know that
the son of Adolphus of Gueldres is still living, the imprisonment of
your father would, in all probability, become more severe, and your
own personal safety might be very doubtful. An ineffectual attempt
to liberate him, must instantly divulge all; nor could I — though I
have promised you my Alice, in case we can obtain by peaceful means
that which we so much desire — nor could I, as a faithful servant of the
house of Burgundy, give you my daughter's hand, if you were once
actually in arms against the lord I serve."

"It is a hard alternative," said Hugh de Mortmar — "it is a hard
alternative ;" and as he spoke he bent down his eyes, and pondered
for several minutes on the difficult situation in which he was placed.

His heart, however, was full of the buoyant and rejoicing spirit oi
youth; and the cares that ploughed it one minute, only caused it ta
bring forth a harvest of fresh hopes the next. Hard as was his fata
in some respects, when he compared it with that of the young man
who now tenanted one of the dungeons of that very castle — a compa>
rison to which his mind was naturally called — he did not, indeed, feel
gratification, as some would argue, at the evils of his fellow-creature's
lot ; but he felt that there was much to be grateful for in his own.
Hope, and liberty, and love, were all before him ; and his expectations
rose high, as he thought how much worse his fate might have been.
Such ideas led him to think over, and to pity, the situation of the un-

<*8 BAEY Or BURGUNDY.

happy prisoner; and quitting the subject of his own affairs, he in.
quired of the Lord of Imbercourt, whether he, as a counsellor of the
duke, could not take upon himself to set the unfortunate burgher af
liberty.

"I would well-nigh give my right hand to do so," replied Imbercourtj
"not alone for the sake of simple justice to an individual, but for th&
sake of the peace and tranquillity of the whole state ; but I must not
do it, my young friend. I have seen the letters which Du Bac found
upon his person: they consist of little more than the murmurs and
complaints of discontented citizens, such as are to be met with in all
countries and in all times ; and which, at any other period would at-
tract no attention whatever. At present, however, with faction and
turbulence spreading over the whole land ; with courtiers, who find
it their interest to urge the duke on to acts of insane violence; and
with a prince whose temper and power are equally uncontrollable ;
those papers may cost the young man's life, will probably set the city
of Ghent into open revolt, and might light a flame in the land which
it would require oceans of blood to extinguish. Nevertheless I dare
not interfere."

Hugh de Montmar made no reply, but mused for a few moments in
silence ; and then, with a gay, light laugh, and a jest about some other
matter, he left his two elder companions, and proceeded to seek his
fair Alice through all the long, rambling chambers, and retired and
quiet bowers, so favourable for whispered words and unmarked
meetings, with which every castle of that day was most conveniently
furnished.

Maillotin du Bac, in the meanwhile, continued sturdily to bear up
under the repeated attacks of Burgundy upon his brain. Draught
after draught he swallowed, in company with some of the old and
seasoned soldiers, who were no way loth to join him; but at length
the sun went down, night fell, the cresset was lighted in the large
hall ; and, unwillingly giving up his cup, he suffered the board to be
removed, and cast himself down on a seat beside the fire, which the
vast extent of the chamber, and the little sunshine that ever found
its way in, either by the high window or the far door, rendered not
unpleasant even on a summer's evening. A number of others gathered
round; and the wine having produced sufficient effect to render them
all rather more imaginative than usual, the stories of hunting and
freebooters, with which the evening commonly began, in such a castle,
soon deviated into tales of superstition. Every one had something
wonderful to relate ; and such, indeed, was the unction with which
many a history of ghost, and spirit, and demon, was told by several
of the party and listened to by the auditory, that two of the Lord of
Imbercourt's officers, who were playing at tables under the light of
the lamp, and several others, who had been amusing themselves at a
little distance with the very ancient and interesting game of " pitch
and toss ;" abandoned those occupations, to share more fully in the
legends which were going on round the fire. Each individual helped
iis neighbour on upon the road of credulity; and when, at length,
Maillotin du Bac rose, from a sense of duty, to visit his prisoner—
\n attention which ho never neglected — the greater part of his com-
panions, feeling themselves in a dwelling whose visitors were very
geuerally reported to be more frequently of a spiritual than a corpo-

MABT OF BURGUNDY. 5?

real nature, got up simultaneously, and agreed to accompany him on
his expedition.

Lighted by a torch, they wound down some of the narrow, tortuous
staircases of the building; and pausing opposite a door, the massive
strength and thickness of which the Prevot did not fail to make his
comrades remark, they were soon gratified farther by beholding the
inside of the dungeon in which the unhappy burgher was confined.
Maillotin de Bac satisfied himself of his presence, by thrusting the
torch rudely towards his face as he half sat, half reclined on a pile
Bf straw which had been spread out for his bed; and then setting
flown a pitcher of wine which he had brought with him, the Prevo;';
closed the door again without a word. The only further ceremony
was that of again slipping the key over his sword-belt, from which he
had detached it to open the doer; and the whole party, once more re-
turning to upper air, separated for the night, and retired to rest.

CHAPTEK IX.

Leaving the brutal officer and his companions to sleep oil the fumes
of the wine they had imbibed, we must return to the dungeon where,
in darkness and in gloom, sat Albert Maurice, the young burgher of
Ghent; whom, perhaps, the reader may have already recognised in
the prisoner of Maillotin du Bac.

The silent agony of impotent indignation preyed upon his heart
more painfully even than the dark and fearful anticipations of the
future, which every circumstance of his situation naturally presented
to his mind. Wronged, oppressed, trampled on; insulted by base
and ungenerous men, whose minds were as inferior to his own as
their power was superior; he cared less for the death that in all pro-
bability awaited him, than for the degradation he already suffered,
and for the present and future oppression of his country, his order,
and his fellow-creatures, to which his hopes could anticipate no end,
and for which his mind could devise no remedy. Whatever expecta-
tion Fancy might sometimes, in her wildest dreams, have suggested
to his hopes, of becoming the liberator of his native land, and the
general benefactor of mankind — dreams which he hal certainly enter-
tained, though he had never acted upon them — they were all extin-
guished at once by his arrest, and the events which he knew must
follow.

The arrest had taken place, indeed, while engaged in no pursuit
which the most jealous tyranny could stigmatize as even seditious.
He had visited Namur with no idea of entering Prance — a country on
which the Duke of Burgundy looked with suspicious eyes — but sim-
ply for the purpose of transacting the mercantile business which his
uncle's house carried on with various traders of that city. Unfortu-
nately, however, on his return towards Ghent, he had charged himself
with several letters from different citizens of Namur to persons iu
his native place. Both cities were at that time equally disaffected;
and amongst the papers with which he had thus burdened himself,
several had proved, under the unceremonious inspection of Maillotin
du Bac, to be of a nature which might, by a little perversion, be
construed into treason. The immediate cause of his first detention

08 MAKY OF BURGUNDY.

also — the fact of having protected a woman, insulted by one of the
ruffianly soldiers of the Prevot's band, and of having punished the
offender on the spot — might, as he knew well, by the aid of a little
false swearing — a thing almost as common in those days as at present
— be made to take the semblance of resistance to legitimate authority,
and be brought to prove his connexion with the letters, of which he
had been simply the bearer, unconscious of their contents.

Under such circumstances, nothing was to be expected but an
ignominious death ; no remedy was to be found, no refuge presented
itself. Though his fellow -citizens of Ghent might revolt — though
his friends and relations might murmur and complain — revolt and
complaint, he well knew, would only hurry his own fate, and aggravate
its circumstances, without proving at all beneficial to his country.

Had he, indeed, seen the slightest prospect of the indignation which
his death would cause, wakening the people of his native place to
such great, generous, and well-directed exertions, as would perma-
nently establish the liberties of the land, there was in his own bosom
that mixture of pride, enthusiasm, and patriotism, which would have
carried him to the scaffold with a feeling of triumph rather than
degradation. But when his eye wandered over all those he knew in
Ghent — nay, in all Flanders — and sought to find a man fitted by
nature and by circumstances to lead and direct the struggles of the
middle and lower classes against the tyranny that then oppressed the
land, he could find none, in whose character and situation there were not
disadvantages which would frustrate his endeavours, or render thern
more pernicious than beneficial to the country. His own death, he
felt, must extinguish the last hope of the liberty of Flanders, at least
for the time; and neither zeal nor passion could offer anything,
gathered from the prospect before him, to counterbalance, even in
the slightest degree, the natural antipathy of man to the awful sepa-
ration of soul and body. On the contrary, every accessory particular
of his fate was calculated to aggravate his distress, by accumulating
upon his head indignities and wrongs. He was to be dragged into
his native town amongst grooms and horse-boys, bound with cords
like a common thief, paraded through the long and crowded streets
in mid-day to the common prison, from whence he was alone to issue
for the gibbet or the block.

Sucli were the subjects of his contemplation — such were the images
that thronged before his mind's eye, as, with a burning heart and
aching brow, and with a lip that seemed as if some evil angel had
breathed upon it all the fire of his own, he lay stretched upon the
Straw, which was the only bed that his gaoler had afforded him.

The dungeon was all in darkness ; for, either from carelessness of
design, no light bad been left with him. But could his face have
been seen, notwithstanding the agonizing thoughts that thrilled
through his. bosom, none of those wild contortions would there have
been traced, which affect weaker beings under the like pangs. His
hand was pressed sometimes firmly upon his brow, as if to hold the
throbbing veins from bursting outright; and sometimes he bit his
under lip unconsciously, or shut his teeth hard, striving to prevent
the despair which mastered his heart from announcing its dominion
by a groan. His eye might have been seen full of keen anguish, and
the bright red flushing of his cheek might have told how strongly th

MARY OF BUKGUNDT. 69

body sympathized with the pangs of the mind; but all that the
clearest light could have displayed would have been an effort to
repress what was passing within, not the weakness of yielding to it.
He lay quite still, without one voluntary movement — he suffered not
his limbs to writhe — he tossed not to and fro, in the restlessness of
agony — but remained quiet, if not tranquil, though full of deep,
bitter, burning, voiceless thoughts.

Thus hour passed after hour — for the wings of time, as they fly
through the night of despair, are as rapid as when they cut the mid-
day sky of joy. Thus hour passed after hour, from the time that the
brutal Prevot closed the door of the dungeon; and the prisoner could
scarcely believe that the castle clock was right, when eleven — mid-
night— one o'clock, chimed rapidly one after another, each leaving,
between itself and the last, an interval that seemed but of a few
minutes.

The single stroke upon the bell — that, echoing through the long,
solitary, and now silent passages and courts of the castle, passed
unheeded by the sleeping guests, and only told to the watchful war-
der, or the sentry, that the first hour of a new day was gone — had
scarcely sounded upon the ear of Albert Maurice, when a new noise
called his attention. It was a harsh, heavy, grating sound, as of
some weighty body pushed slowly over a rough surface; and it
appeared so near that his eye was immediately turned towards the
door of the dungeon, expecting to see it open. It moved, not, how-
ever: the sound still went on; and he now perceived that it did not
come from that side of the cell.

The apartment itself was a low-roofed, massive chamber, just
below the surface of the earth; and seemed to be partly excavated
from the rock on which the castle stood, partly formed by the solid
foundations of the building. A single window, or spiracle, of about
twelve inches in diameter, passed upwards through the thick masonry,
to the external air beyond: and one of those short, massive pillars,
which we sometimes see in the crypts of very ancient churches,
standing in the centre, supported the roof of the dungeon, and appa-
rently the basement of the castle itself; under the tremendous weight
of which, a fanciful mind might have conceived the column to be
crushed down ; so broad and clumsy were its proportions, in compari-
son with those of the rudest Tuscan shaft that ever upheld a portico.

From behind this pillar, the sounds that the prisoner heard
appeared to proceed ; and he might have imagined that some human
being, confined in a neighbouring chamber, sought to communicate
with him through the walls, had it not happened that he had caught
the words of the Lord of Hannut in the morning; when, in speaking
with Maillotin du Bac, that nobleman had declared that all the dun-
geons of the castle were untenanted. Still the noise continued,
becoming more and more distinct every moment; and as, leaning on
his arm upon his couch of straw, he gazed earnestly towards the
other side of the vault, a single bright ray of light burst suddenly
forth upon the darkness, and, streaming across the open space,
painted a long perpendicular pencil of yellow brightness upon the
wall close beside him.

Albert Maurice started upon his feet ; and perceived, to his sur-
prise, the ray he beheld issued, beyond all doubt, from the body of

00 MARY OP BUEGDTiDT.

the pillar itself. The reputed commune of the Lord of Hannut with
the beings of another world, his dark and mysterious studies, and the
extraordinary fulfilment which many of his astrological predictions
were reported to have met with, had often reached the ear of Albert
Maurice ; but his mind was too enlightened to be credulous, at least,
to that extent to which credulity was generally carried in that age
All the fearful circumstances, too, of his new situation had hitherto
blotted out from his memory the rumours he had heard ; and when
he had entered the castle of Hannut he looked upon it merely as a
place of temporary confinement, from which he was to be led to
ignominy and death. Now, however, when he beheld with his own
eyes a beam of light, doubly bright from the darkness around, break-
ing forth from the face of the solid masonry, without any obvious
cause or means, all that he had heard rose to remembrance, and
without absolutely giving credit to the different tales which he thus
recalled, he was certainly startled and surprised ; and held his breath,
with a feeling of awe and expectation, as he gazed on the spot whence
that mysterious ray seemed to proceed.

At the same time, the sound continued, and gradually, as it went
on, the light expanded and grew more and more diffused. At length,
it became evident, that a part of the massy column, about two feet
from the ground, was opening in a perpendicular direction, slowly
but steadily; and that the light issued from the aperture left by the
rolling back, on either side, of two of the large stones which appeared
to form a principal part of the shaft. For the first few minutes, the
vacancy did not extend to a hand's breadth in wideness, though to
about three feet in height, and nothing could be seen beyond, but the
light pouring forth from within. A minute more, however, so much
increased the aperture, that Albert Maurice could perceive a gaunt-
leted hand, and an arm clothed in steel, turning slowly round in the
inside what seemed to be the winch of a wheel. The form, to which
this hand and arm belonged, was for some time concealed behind the
stone; but, as the opening became larger, the blocks appeared to
move with greater facility, and, at length, rolling back entirely, dis-
played to the eyes of the prisoner a narrow staircase in the heart of
the pillar, with the head, arms, and chest of a powerful man, covered
with armour. Beside him stood a complicated piece of machinery;
by the agency of which, two of the large stones, forming the shaft of
the column, were made to revolve upon the pivots of iron that con-
nected them with the rest of the masonry; and in a bracket, on the
stairs, was fixed the burning torch, which afforded the light that now
poured into the dungeon.

Albert Maurice stood gazing in no small surprise. The feeling of
awe — which, however near akin to fear, was not fear — that he had
felt on first perceiving the light, was now succeeded by other sensa-
tions ; and, had there been the slightest resemblance between the
personal appearance of the man who stood before him, and that of
Maillotin du Bac, or any of his band, he would have supposed that
the purpose of the Prevot was to despatch him in prison; an event
which not unfrequently took place, in the case of prisoners whose
public execution might be dangerous to the tranquillity of the state.

Totally different, however, in every respect, was the person whom
he now beheld ; for, though his form could not well be distinguished

MART OF BUKGDNDT. C\

ander the armour by 'which he was covered, yet that armour itself
was a sufficient proof, at least to Albert Maurice, that the stranger
was in no way connected with the band of the Prevot. Every plate
of his mail was painted of a deep, leafy green : and even his helmet,
which was without crest or plume, and the visor of which was down,
was of the same forest colour. In other respects he seemed a tall,
powerful man, formed equally for feats of activity and strength.

Little time was allowed the prisoner for making further observa-
tions ; for as soon as the stones had been rolled back as far as their
construction permitted, the unexpected visiter at once sprang into the
dungeon ; though the young burgher remarked at the same time, that
a leap, which would have made any other arms clang with a noise
sjafficient to awaken the whole castle, produced no sound from those
01 his new visiter.

The mechanical means which he had used to procure an entrance
had, at once, banished all superstitious fancies from the mind of Albert
Maurice, nor did even his noiseless tread recall them. The young
burgher, however, still looked upon the man-at-arms with some feel-
ings of doubt and astonishment ; though his own presence in the dun-
geon was far from seeming to surprise this nocturnal visiter, who,
advancing directly towards him, clasped his arm, saying, in a low
voice, " Follow me !"

Albert Maurice paused, and gazed upon the stranger — over whose
green armour the flashing red light of the torch cast a fitful and un-
pleasant glare — with a glance of suspicion and hesitation: but his
irresolution was removed at once, by the other demanding, in the
same clear and distinct, but low tone, " Can you be worse than you
are here?"

" Lead on," he replied ; " I follow you."

"Pass through," said his visiter, pointing with his hand to the aper-
ture in the column. Albert Maurice again hesitated : but a moment's
reflection upon the hopelessness of his situation — the inefficacy of re-
sistance, even if anything evil were meditated against him — togethet
with the thought, that it were better to die, murdered in a prison,
than to be exposed as a spectacle to the multitude by public execu-
tion, mingled with a strong hope that relief was at hand, though he
knew not whence that relief might come — made him cast away all
doubts ; and, stepping over the mass of stone below the aperture, he
found himself in a staircase only sufficiently large to admit the ascent
or descent of one person at a time. The secret entrance, which it
afforded to that dungeon, seemed its only object; for, to all appear'
ance, it was carried up no farther through the column; the space
above being occupied by the machinery for moving the blocks of
stone.

" Descend a few steps," said the stranger, " that I may close the
passage." And as soon as he found himself obeyed, he also entered
the gap ; and applying the full strength of his powerful arm to the
winch which moved the machinery, he succeeded, iD a few minutes, in
rolling the heavy blocks so exactly back into their places in the ma-
sonry, that not even in the inside could it be seen that they did not
form a part of the wall of the staircase.

When this was accomplished, he said, in the same abrupt manner
In which he had before spoken, " Go on!" and then followed th.2 pri-

62 MAEY OF BURGUNDY.

soner, holding the torch as far before him as possible, to let the other
see the way as he descended step by step. After having proceeded
for about fifteen or twenty yards, Albert Maurice found his further
progress opposed by a strong oaken door, but it was unlocked ; and,
having pushed it open by the desire of his conductor, he stepped forth
into a small vaulted chamber, not unlike in shppe the dungeon he had
just left. The light of another torch which was burning there, how-
ever, displayed various objects strewed about in different parts of tha
room, which showed him at once that the purposes to which it was
applied were very different from those of the cell above. Several
cloaks and gowns were piled upon a bench close to the door; and across
them leaned, with one end resting on the floor, a common pike or
reitter's lance, and a large two-handed sword. A barrel of wine, or
some other liquor, occupied one corner of the apartment ; and in the
midst was placed a table, on which stood a large leathern bottle or
bottiau, with two or three drinking horns.

Sitting on a bench at the far end of this table, on which his head
and arms rested, was a man apparently sound asleep. He was armed
all but his head, which was covered alone by its own long tangled
black hair ; but his armour was of a very different kind from that of
the stranger who had guided Albert Maurice thither, consisting alone
of one of those light suits of body mail, which were called brigandines ;
and the common use of which, amongst the lawless soldiers of the
day, had acquired for them the name of brigands. The general hue
of his whole dress, however, was green, like his companion's, and
Albert Maurice was soon led to conceive, that he was in the hands of
a party of those bold adventurers, who in that part of the country had
succeeded the schwarz reitters, or black horsemen, and had obtained,
from the general colour of their dress, the title of green riders. It is
true that the latter had displayed, upon all occasions, a much more
generous and noble spirit than their predecessors, whose sole trade
was blood and carnage. As they abstained totally from plundering
the peasants, and directed their attacks in general against persons who
were in some way obnoxious to the better part of the population, the
green riders were far from unpopular throughout the country. Many
of them were known to show themselves familiarly at village feasts
and merry-makings ; and upon the borders of France and Flanders,
their general name had been changed, from these circumstances, into
that of Les Verts Gallants, though it seemed that their principal
leader was more particularly distinguished by this appellation. Nor
was the acquisition of this pleasant title the only effect of their popu-
larity, which produced for themselves a much more beneficial result,
by making both peasant and burgher, and even many of the feudal
lords themselves, anxious to connive at the escape of the green riders,
whenever they were pursued by superior bodies of troops.

Into the hands of some one of their parties Albert Maurice now
clearly saw that he had fallen ; and as the sort of romantic life which
they led had caused a thousand stories to be spread concerning them
— some strange and extraordinary enough, but none more common
than that of their finding access into towns and castles without any
visible means — their connexion with the dwelling of the Lord of Han-
mit required no explanation to the young citizen.

The moment he had entered the chamber which we have just de«

MAET OF BUBGUHBT. 68

embed, the Vert Gallant, as we shall henceforth term the person who
had led Albert Maurice thither, closed the heavy door which cut off
the communication with the staircase, and locked and barred it with
no small precaution. Advancing towards the table, he shook the slum-
berer by the shoulder, who, starting up, merely required a sign to
place himself in the position of a sentry, at the mouth of a dark pas-
sage which led from the other side of the chamber.

" Now, Sir Burgher," said the Vert Gallant, approaching Albert
Maurice, " you have penetrated into places which the eye of none of
your cast or craft ever beheld before ; and, as you have been led thi-
ther solely for your benefit and safety, you must take a serious oath,
for the security of those who have conferred upon you so great a
favour."

" That I will willingly," replied Albert Maurice, " although Heayen
only knows whether it may prove a benefit to me or not."

" Kule yourself by my directions," replied the other, " and fear not
for the result. But first for the oath." So saying, he unsheathed his
sword, and holding up the cross which formed the hilt before the eyes
of the young burgher, he added, " Swear by this blessed symbol of
our salvation, by your faith in the Saviour who died upon the cross,
by your hope for his aid at your utmost need, by all that you hold
dear upon the earth, and sacred beyond the earth, never to reveal, by
word, sign, or token, or in any other manner whatever, anything that
you have seen from the moment that you quitted the dungeon above,
or that you may see as I lead you hence."

" Willingly do I swear," replied Albert Maurice, and he pressed the
hilt of the sword upon his lips. "Nevertheless," he added, "for the
security of all, fair sir, I would rather that, by bandaging my eyes,
you should take from me the means of betraying you, even if I would."

" Hast thou no confidence in thine own honour ?" demanded the
Vert Gallant. " If so, by the Lord, I regret that I took the trouble to
save so scurvy a clown!"

The eye of the prisoner flashed, and his cheek grew red ; but after
a moment's pause, he replied, " Not so. It is not that I doubt my
own honour, for I have sworn not to betray you, or to reveal anything
that I may see ; and that torture has not yet been invented by the
demons who are permitted to rule so much upon our earth, that could
tear from me one word in violation of that oath. Nevertheless, sir, I
would rather be able to say that I cannot, than that I will not tell,
and therefore I proposed the meaj.- xt which you scoff without
■cause."

" Thou art right, and I am wrong, stranger," answered the other.
" Be it so, then. With this scarf I will bind up thine eyes. But
first," he added, "take a draught of wine, for thou wilt have to travel
far ere morning."

So saying, he filled one of the horns upon the tahle to the hrim, and
presented it to the young burgher, who drank it off. The Vert
Gallant himself, however, did not unclose the visor of his helmet to
partake of the beverage he gave to the other. As soon as the citizen
had drained the cup, his guide took the scarf from the bench, and
bound it over his eyes, saying with a light laugh as he did so, " I am
clumsy at the work with these gauntlets on, but better have my
fingers busy at thy temples, than the hangman's busy at thy neck.

94 MAHY OP BURGUNDY.

Now give me thy hand," he added; "the way is rough, so mind thy
footing as we go."

Albert Maurice was now led forward to the mouth of the passage,
at which the other adventurer stood ; and he then advanced for some
way over an uneven pavement, till at length he was told that there
were steps to descend. Of these there were about thirty, and he
remarked, as he went down, that the air became very close and
oppressive. He thought, too, that he heard many voices speaking
and laughing beyond; and, as he proceeded, it became clearer that it
was so, for by the time he and his guide had reached the bottom of
the descent, the sound of merriment burst clear upon his ear. " Now,
pause for a moment," said his companion, and at the same time he
struck three hard blows with his mailed hand upon what seemed to
be a door. All instantly became silent within, and then a single blow
upon the woodwork was struck from the other side. It was answered
in the same manner by one stroke more ; and the next moment, after
some clattering and grating caused by the turning of more than
one key, and by the removing of more than one large bar, the door
was apparently thrown open ; and Albert Maurice could tell, by the
freer air which he breathed, that he was led forward into some apart-
ment of much larger dimensions than any he had yet seen. No voice
was heard ; but the sound of moving feet, and of seats pushed on one
side, as well as the steam of wine and dressed meats, showed clearly
that they had now entered some scene of late or present festivity.
The person who had conducted him thither soon let go his hand, but
at the same time he heard his voice exclaiming, " Now, unbind his
€yes for a few minutes. Have my orders been obeyed ?"

While several voices were busily answering this question, by detail'
ing the despatch of a number of messengers, as it seemed, in different
directions, and for purposes which Albert Maurice could not gather
from what was said, two persons undid the scarf which had been tied
round his head, and he suddenly found himself in a scene which may
need a more detailed description.

The apartment in which he stood, if apartment it could be called,
was neither more nor less than an immense cavern, or excavation in
the limestone rock, from which, as it bore evidently the traces of
human labour, it is probable that at some remote period the stone for
constructing one or several large buildings had been hewn out. In
height it might be twenty or five and twenty feet, and in width it
was considerably more ; the length was about eighty yards, and the
farther end, on one side, was closed by a wooden partition. Over head
the rock was left rough and irregular, but the sides, very nearly to
the top, were perpendicular and tolerably smooth, while the floor, or
rather the ground, had of course been made as level as possible in its
original construction, for the purpose of rolling out the blocks of
stone with greater facility. Extending down the centre of this
spacious apartment was a table, covered with various sorts of food.
The viands which it sustained consisted chiefly of immense masses of
solid meat, amongst which, though beef and mutton bore a certain
share, yet the stag, the wild boar, and the fallow deer, with other of
the forest tenants, had contributed not a little to make up the enter-
tainment. On either side of this table, wliich, by the way, was itself
formed of planks, bearing traces of the saw much more evidently thai;

MARY OF BURGUNDY. M

Shose of the plane, were ranged an innumerable multitude of benches,
atools, and settles of the same rude description. From these had risen
tip, as it seemed, on the entrance of the prisoner and his companion, the
mixed population of the cavern, consisting of nearly two hundred
cavaliers, as sturdy, and, apparently, as veteran as ever drew sword or
mounted horse; and, when the bandage was removed from the eyes of
the young citizen, he found that a number of those whose habiliments
seemed to point them out as the most distinguished, were thronging
round the person who had led him thither.

" John and Nicholas have gone to the west," cried one, " to tell the
band of St. Bavon to keep beyond Kamilies." "Adolph of Sluy,"
cried another, " has tidings by this time that he must remain within
the bounds of Liege." " The little monk, too," said an old, white-
headed man, of a Acrid, healthy complexion, which showed that time
had hitherto wrestled with him nearly in vain, " the little monk, too,
is trotting away on his mule towards Mierdorp, though he complained
bitterly of being obliged to set out before the feast was on the table,
and has carried away, in his wallet, a roasted hare from the fire, as
long as my arm, and a bottle of the old Bonne that we got out of the
cellar of Ambly."

" He shall feast well another time for his pains," replied the Vert
Gallant, moving towards the head of the table, at which a large armed
chair, like a throne, stood vacant, " he shall feast well another time
for his pains, good Matthew; but we must make this stranger taste
of our hospitality while the horses are saddling without. Sit down,
Sir Citizen," he added, turning to Albert Maurice, " sit down, and
refresh yourself before you go ;" and he pointed to a vacant seat by
his side.

"I thank you, sir," replied the young burgher; "but the grief I
have undergone, and the anxieties I have suffered, have dulled the
edge of appetite with me more than the banquet of a prince could
have done ; and I would fain see myself once more upon my road to
Ghent, if such be the fate intended for me."

"Ha! ha!" exclaimed the old man whom we have before noticed.
" See what frail things these townsmen are, that a little anxiety and
fear should take away their appetite ; but thou wilt drink, good friend,
if thou wilt not eat. Here, merry men all, fill to the brim, and drink
with me to our noble leader, ' Here's to the Vert Gallant of Hannut !' "

The proposal was like an electric, shock to all. Each man started
on his feet, and with loud voice and overflowing cup, drank, " To the
Vert Gallant of Hannut ! and may the sword soon restore to him what
the sword took from him!"

" Thank you, my friends, thank you," replied the Vert Gallant, as
soon as their acclamations had subsided ; " I drink to you all. May I
need your aid and not find it, when I forget you !" and so saying, he
raised the visor of his helmet sufficiently to allow himself to bring the
cup to his lip. The eye of the young burgher fixed eagerly upon him,
anxious, as may be well supposed, to behold the countenance of a
man holding such an extraordinary station. What was his surprise,
however, when the small degree in which the leader of the green
riders suffered his face to appear exposed to view the countenance G&
a negro.

6» MART OF BURCUKEt.

CHAPTER X.

An involuntary exclamation of astonishment burst from the Hps
of Albert Maurice; and the Vert Gallant instantly closed his hel-
met.

" Now, Sir Citizen," he said, without noticing the other's surprise,
" we will once more forward on our way. Some one bind his eyes
again ; and you, good friend, lend me your ear for a moment. Mark
well," he said, speaking in a lower voice to the elder man already
mentioned — ■" mark well that all the precautions are taken which I
ordered. Be sure the tracks of the horses' feet, for more than a mile,
be completed effaced. Roll the large stones down, as I told you, over
the mouth, and let not a man show his head during the whole day.
If, notwithstanding all, you should be discovered, and the fools will
rush upon their fate, send round fifty men by the back of the rock,
and on your life, let not one of the band escape. 1 say not slay them:
take every man to mercy that is willing, but suffer not one living
man to pass the bounds of the forest if they once discover you. If,
however, they miss the track entirely, as doubtless they will, then,
should I not see you before to-morrow night, pick me out fifty of the
best riders, and the quickest handed men ; let their horses be kept
saddled, and not a break in their mail, for I do not purpose that this
Prevot should hie him back to Brussels without being met withal."

By the time the Vert Gallant had given these directions, the scarf
was once more bound round the eyes of Albei" Maurice, and he was
again led forward by the hand, apparently passing through several
halls and passages. In one instance, the peculiar smell of horses, and
the various sounds that he heard, convinced him that he was going
through a stable; and, in a few minutes after, receiving a caution to
walk carefully, he was guided down a steep descent, at the end of
which the free open air blew cool upon his cheek. The bandage was
not removed, however, for some moments, though, by feeling the grass
and withered leaves beneath his feet, he discovered that he was once
more under the boughs of the forest.

At length the voice of him who had been his conductor through-
out, desired him to halt, and uncover his eyes, which he accordingly
did, and found himself, as he expected, in the deepest part of the
wood.

" Now follow me on, Sir Citizen !" said the Vert Gallant, "and as we
go, I will tell you how you must conduct yourself. Make your way
straight to Mierdorp, where you will arrive probably about the grey
of the dawn. As you are going into the village, you will be joined
by a certain monk, to whom you will say, ' Good morrow, Father
Barnabas,' and he will immediately conduct you on your road to-
wards Namur. Halt with him at the village where you were first
arrested. Speak with the syndic or deacon, or any other officer of the
place, and get together all the written testimony you can concerning
the cause of your arrest. Then return to Ghent if you will. It may
be that no accuser ever will appear against you, but if there should,
boldly appeal to the Princess Mary, who is left behind by her
father at Ghejit. State the real circumstances which caused your

MAKY OF BURGUNDT. 67

arrest at Gembloux, and call upon your accuser to bring forward any
proofs against you. But mark well, and remember, walk not late by-
night. Go not forth into the streets alone. Always have such friends
and companions about you as may witness your arrest, and second
your appeal to the princess. For there are such things, Sir Citizen, as
deaths in prisons without judgment."

"I shall remember with gratitude, sir," replied the young burgher,
" all that you have been pleased to say, and all that you have done in
my behalf. But on one point I must needs think you mistake. If I
know where I am rightly, we are full sixteen miles from Miei ^orp —
a distance which would take four good hours to walk. The castle
clock has just struck three, so that it may be broad day, and not
merely dawn, before I can reach that place."

" Fear not, fear not," replied the stranger, " you shall have the
means of reaching it in time ; but follow me quick, for the hours
wear." Thus saying, he strode on through the trees and brushwood,
pursuing a path, which though totally invisible to the eyes of his
companion, he seemed to tread with the most perfect certainty.
Sometimes the occasional underwood appeared to cover it over en-
tirely ; and often the sweeping boughs of the higher trees drooped
across it, and dashed the night dew upon the clothes of the travellers
as they pushed through them, but still the Vert Gallant led on. In
about ten minutes, the glancing rays of the sinking moon, seen shin-
ing through the leaves before them, showed that they were coming
to some more open ground and the next moment they stood upon
the principal road which traversed the forest.

By the side of the highway, with an ordinary groom holding the
bridle, stood a strong, bony horse; and the only further words that
were spoken, were — " The road lies straight before you to the west ;
mount, and God speed you. Give the horse to the monk when you
are in safety."

"A thousand thanks and blessings on your head!" replied the
young burgher; and springing with easy grace into the saddle he
struck the horse with his heel, and darted off towards Mierdorp.

"A likely cavalier as ever I saw!" exclaimed the Vert Gallant.
"Now, to cover, to cover," he added, turning to the groom, and once
more plunged into the forest.

In the meanwhile Albert Maurice rode on; and with his personal
adventures we shall now be compelled to proceed for some way, leav-
ing the other characters for fate to play with as she lists, till we have
an opportunity of resuming their history also.

The horse that bore the young burgher, though not the most showy
that ever underwent the saddle, proved strong, swift, and willing;
and as it is probably impossible for a man just liberated from prison,
with the first sense of recovered freedom fresh upon him, to ride
slowly, Albert Maurice dashed on for some way at full speed. His
mind had adopted, without a moment's doubt or hesitation, the plan
which had been pointed out to him by the leader of the adventurers,
as the very best which, under his present circumstances, he could
pursue; and this conviction — together with the proofs he had al-
ready received that the wishes of the Vert Gallant were friendly
and generous towards himself, and the intimate knowledge which his
Jeliverer had displayed of his affairs — made him resolve to follow

E

•8 MARV OF BUItGUNDT.

implicitly his directions. Although this resolution was brought
about by the mental operation of a single moment, it is not to be
supposed that the various events which had befallen him since enter-
ing the castle of Ilannut, had not produced on his mind all those
effects of wonder, surprise, and doubt, which they might naturally be
expected to cause in the bosom of any person so circumstanced.

There were a thousand things that he could not in any way ac-
count for, and which we shall not attempt to account for either.
The interest which his deliverer had taken in his fate, the means by
which ' e had acquired such an exact knowledge of his situation, the
existence of so large a band of free companions, notwithstanding the
many efforts which the Duke of Burgundy had made to put them
down, were all matters of astonishment. He had felt, however, dur-
ing his short intercourse with the green riders, that neither the time,
the place, nor the circumstances admitted of any inquiry upon tho
subject ; and with a prompt decision, which was one great trait in his
character, while he took advantage of the means of escape offered to
him, he had suppressed as far as possible every word which might have
betrayed surprise or curiosity. As he rode on, however, he pondered
on all that had happened ; and he doubted not, that, now he was at
liberty to seek and collect the proofs of his innocence, he should find
little difficulty in clearing himself from any absolute crime, if his
cause were submitted to a regular tribunal. Unfortunately this did
not always occur. In most of the continental states the will of the
prince was law; and too often the same absolute jurisdiction was
exercised by his officers. This was especially the case in respect
to Maillotin du Bac, who, in one morning, had been known to arrest
and hang thirty persons, without any form of trial or judicial inves-
tigation.

Nevertheless, all these circumstances seemed to have been fully
considered by the Vert Gallant ; and the means he had pointed out
of an appeal to the Princess Mary, in case of unjust persecution,
were, as the young burgher well knew, the only ones that could prove
efficacious.

So well had the distance and the horse's speed been calculated,
that, at about two miles from Mierdorp, that undefinable grey tint,
which can hardly be called light, but is the first approach towards it,
began to spread upwards over the eastern sky; and by the time that
Albert Maurice emerged from the forest of Hannut, which then
extended to within a mile of the village, the air was all rosy with the
dawn of day. Just as he was issuing forth from the woodland, he
perceived before him a stout, short, round figure, clothed in a long
grey gown, the cow] or hood of which was thrown back upon his
shoulders, leaving a polished bald head to shine uncovered in the
rays of the morning; and the young fugitive paused to examine the
person whom he had by this time nearly overtaken.

The monk, for so he appeared to be, was mounted on a stout, fat
mule, whose grey skin, and sleek, rotund limbs, gave him a ridiculous
likeness to his rider, which was increased by a sort of vacant senti-
mentality that appeared in the round face of the monk, and the
occasional slow raising and dropping of one of the mule's ears, in a
manner which bears no other epithet but the very colloquial one of
iack-a-daisical.

MART or BUKGUNDr- 69

According to the instructions he had received, the young burgher
immediately rode up to the monk, and addressed him with the " Good
morrow, Father Barnabas," which he had been directed to employ.

" Good morrow, my son," replied the monk ; " though unhappily for
me, sinner that I am, my patron saint is a less distinguished one than
him whose name you give me ; I am called Father Charles, not Father
Barnabas."

As he thus spoke he looked up in the young traveller's face with an
air of flat unmeaningness, which would at once have convinced Albert
Maurice that he was mistaken in the person, had he not discovered a
small ray of more intellectual expression beam the next moment
through the dull, grey eye of the monk, while something curled, and
just curled, the corners of his mouth with what did not deserve the
name of a smile, and yet was far too faint for a grin.

" Well," said he, eyeing him keenly, " if your name be not Barnabas,
good father, I will give you good morrow once more, and ride on."

" Good morrow, my son," replied the monk, with the same demure
smile ; and Albert Maurice, to be as good as his word, put his horse
into a trot, in order to make the best of his way towards Mierdorp,
which was lying in the fresh, sweet light of morning, at the distance
of about three quarters of a mile before him. To his surprise, how-
ever, the monk's mule, without any apparent effort of its rider, the
moment he quickened his horse's pace, put itself into one of those long,
easy ambles for which mules are famous, and without difficulty car-
ried its master on by his side.

" You are in haste, my son," said the monk : " whither away so
fast?"

" I go to seek Father Barnabas," replied the young burgher, some-
what provoked, but yet half laughing at the quiet merriment of the
monk's countenance as he rode along beside him on his mule, with
every limb as round as if he had been formed out of a series of
pumpkins.

" Well, well," rejoined the monk, " perhaps I may aid you in your
search ; " but what wouldst thou with Father Barnabas, when thou
hast found him ? Suppose I were Father Barnabas now, what wouldst
thou say to me ?"

" I would say nothing," answered Albert Maurice ; " but— let us on
our way."

" So be it, then," replied the other; " but one thing, good brother,
it does not become me to go jaunting over the country with profane
laymen; therefore if we are to journey forward together, you must
don the frock, and draw the hood over your head, to hide that curly
black hair. So turn your horse's bridle rein before we get into the
village, and behind those old hawthorn bushes, I will see whether my
wallet does not contain the wherewithal to make thee as good a monk
as myself."

As it now became sufficiently evident to the young citizen that he
was not deceived in the person whom he had addressed, he acquiesced
in his proposal; and turning down a little lane to their right hand,
they dismounted from their beasts behind a small, thick clump of aged
thorns, and the monk soon produced, from a large leathern wallet
which he carried behind him, a grey gown, exactly similar to his own,
which completely covered and concealed the handsome form of tha

70 MARY OF BURGUNDT.

young citizen. The cowl having been drawn over his head, and the
frock bound round his middle by a rope, they once more mounted ,
and pursuing their way together, soon found means to turn the con-
versation to the direct object which they had in view, with which it
appeared the monk was fully acquainted.

The ice having been once broken, Albert Maurice found his com-
panion a shrewd, intelligent man, with a strong touch of roguish
humour, which, though partly concealed under an affectation of
stolidity, had grown into such a habit of jesting, that it seemed
scarcely possible to ascertain when he was serious and when he was
not. This, however, might be, in some degree, assumed ; for it is
wonderful how often deep feelings and deep designs, intense affection,
towering ambition, and even egregious cunning itself, attempt to
cover themselves by different shades of playful gaiety, knowing that
the profundity of a deep stream is often hidden by the light ripple on
its surface.

However that might be, the young citizen's new companion was
anything but wanting in sense, and proved of the greatest assistance
to him, by his keen foresight and knowledge of the world.

With his co-operation, Albert Maurice, at the little town of Gem-
bloux, at which he had been arrested by Maillotin du Bac, obtained
full and sufficient evidence, written down by the magistrate of the place,
to prove that the first squabble between himself and the prcvot had
arisen in a wanton aggression committed by one of the soldiers of the
latter ; and that before that officer had opened any of the papers in
his possession, he had sworn, with a horrible oath, that for striking
his follower, he would hang him over the gates of Ghent. All this
was attested in due form ; and satisfied that half the dangers of his
situation were gone, Albert Maurice gladly turned his horse's head
towards his native place. The monk still accompanied him, saying
that he had orders not to leave him till he was safe within the walls of
Ghent : "seeing that you are such a sweet innocent lamb," he added,
" that you are not to be trusted amongst the wolves of this world
alone."

Their journey passed over, however, without either danger or diffi-
culty; for though at Gcmbloux, Albert Maurice had laid aside the
frock, as his very inquiries would of course have made his person
known, he had resumed it, by the monk's desire, as soon as they had
quitted that town; and the garb procured them a good reception in all
the places at which they paused upon the road.

As they approached Ghent, Father Barnabas thought fit to take
new precautions ; and requested his young companion to make use of
the mule which he had hitherto ridden himself, while he mounted the
horse. He also drew his own cowl far over his head ; nor were these
steps in vain, as they very soon' had occasion to experience.

They reached the gates of Ghent towards sunset, on a fine clear
Evening, and passed through many a group of peasantry, returning
from the market in the city to their rural occupations. On these the
monk showered his benedictions very liberally ; but Albert Maurice
remarked that, as they approached a small party of soldiers near the
gate, his companion assumed an air of military erectness, and caused
his horse to prance and curvet like a war steed. Perhaps, had he
noticed what the keen eye of the monk had instantly perceived, that

MARY OF EUKGUNDT. 71

two of the soldiers were examining them as they came up with more
than ordinary care, he might have guessed that the object of all this
parade of horsemanship was to draw attention upon himself, as a
skilful conjurer forces those to whom he offers the cards to take tha
very one he wishes, without their being conscious of his doing so.

" Ventre Saint Gris !" cried one of the soldiers to the other, as they
came near. " It must be him ! That is no monk, Jenkin ! He ridea
like a reitter — Pardi! I will see, however. Father, your cowl is
awry !" he added, laying his hand upon the monk's bridle rein, and
snatching at his hood as if for the sake of an insolent joke. The cowl
instantly fell back under his hand, exposing the fat bald head of the
friar ; and the soldier, with a broad laugh, retired, disappointed,
amongst his companions, suffering the young citizen, who, on the still,
quiet mule, had escaped without observation, to proceed with the monk
to the dwelling of good Martin Fruse, which they reached without
further annoyance or interruption.

CHAPTEE XT.

Although the soldiers that Albert Maurice and his companion had
passed at the gate, with the usual reckless gaiety of their profession,
had been found laughing lightly, and jesting with each other, yet it
soon became evident to the eyes of the travellers, as they passed on-
ward through the long irregular streets of the city, that something had
occurred to affect the population of Ghent in an unusal manner.

Scarce a soul was seen abroad ; and there was a sort of boding
calmness in the aspect of the whole place, as they rode on, which
taught them to expect important tidings'of some kind, from the first
friend they should meet. The misty evening sunshine streamed down
the far perspective of the streets, casting long and defined shadows
from the fountains and the crosses, and also from the houses, that
every here and there obtruded their insolent gables beyond the regular
line of the other buildings ; but no lively groups were seen amusing
themselves at the corners, or by the canals ; no sober citizens sitting
out before their doors, in all the rich and imposing colours of Flemish
costume, to enjoy the cool tranquillity of the evening, after the noise,
and the bustle, and the heat of an active summer's day. One or two
persons, indeed, might be observed with their heads close together,
and the important forefinger laid with all the energy of demonstration
in the palm of the other hand, while the party gossiped eagerly over
some great event, each one fancying himself fit to lead hosts and to
govern kingdoms ; and every now and then some rapid figure, with
consequence in all its steps, was remarked flitting from house to
house, the receptacle and carrier of all the rumours of the day.

Though in one of the last named class of personages whom Albert
Maurice met as he advanced, he recognised an acquaintance, yet, for
many reasons, he only drew the cowl more completely over his face ;
*nd, secure in the concealment of the monk's frock that covered him,
rode on, till he reached the house of his uncle, Martin Fruse, which
he judged to be a more secure asylum than his own, till such time as
his resolutions were taken, and his plans arranged.

The dwelling of the worthy burgher, though occupying no incon-
iderable part of one of the principal streets, had its private entrance

72 m.uiy of uniiGUKDr.

in a narrower one branching to the south-west ; and the tall house*
on either hand, acting as complete screens between the portal and
the setting sun, gave at least an hour's additional darkness to the hue
of evening.

So deep, indeed, was the gloom, and so completely did the friar's
gown conceal the person of Albert Maurice, that one of his old uncle's
servants, who was standing in the entrance, did not in any degree
recognise his young master, though it was his frequent boast that he
had borne the young citizen — the pink of the youth of Ghent — upon
his knee a thousand times when he was no higher than an ell wand.
Even the familiar stride with which Albert Maurice entered the long,
dark passage, as soon as he had dismounted from his mule, did not
undeceive him ; and he ran forward into the large sitting room, which
lay at the end of the vestibule, announcing that two monks, some-
what of the boldest, had just alighted at the door.

He was followed straight into the apartment of Martin Fruse by
that worthy citizen's nephew, who immediately found himself in the
midst of half a dozen of the richest burghers of the town, enjoying an
hour of social converse with their wealthy neighbour before they re-
tired to their early rest. It would seem to belong more to the anti-
quary than to the historian to describe the appearance of the cham-
ber, or the dress of the personages who were sealed on benches around
it ; and it may suffice to say. that the furred gowns, and gold chains,
which decorated the meeting, sufficiently evinced the municipal dig-
nity of the guests.

At the moment of his nephew's entrance, Martin Fruse was upon
his feet, following round a serving boy, who, with a small silver cup,
and flask of the same metal, was distributing to each of the burghers
a modicum of a liquour, now, alas ! too common, but which was then
lately invented, and was known, from the many marvellous qualities
attributed to it, by the name of eau de vie.

"Take but one small portion," said the worthy citizen to one of his
companions, who made some difficulty ; " not more than a common
spoonful. Do not the best leeches in Europe recommend it as a so-
vereign cure for all diseases, and a preservation against bad air ? It
warms the stomach, strengthens the bones, clears the head, and pro-
motes all the functions. And, truly, these are sad and troublous
times, wherein cordials are necessary, and every man requires such
consolation as he can find. Alack, and a well-a-day ! who would
have thought "

But the speech of good Martin Fruse was brought to a sudden
conclusion by the entrance of his man, announcing the coming of the
two monks ; which notice was scarcely given, when Albert Maurice
himself appeared. Before entering, the young citizen had paused
one moment to cast off the friar's gown, on account of the strangs
voices he heard as he advanced along the passage, and he now showed
himself in his usual travelling dress, though his apparel was some-
what disarranged, and he appeared without cap or bonnet.

" Welcome, welcome, my fair nephew !" cried Martin Fruse, who
looked upon Albert with no small pride and deference. " Sirs, here
is my nephew Albert, come, at a lucky hour, to give us his good
counsel and assistance in the strange and momentous circumstances
in which ve are placed."

MARY OF BURGCJNDT. 78

" Welcome, most welcome, good Master Maurice !" cried a number
of voices at once. " Welcome, most welcome !" and the young tra-
veller, instantly surrounded by his fellow-citizens, was eagerly con-
gratulated on his return, which had apparently been delayed longer
than they had expected or had wished. At the same time, the often
repeated words, " Perilous times, extraordinary circumstances, dan-
gers to the state, anxious expectations," and a number of similar ex-
pressions, showed him that the opinion he had formed, from the
appearance of the town as he passed through the streets, was per-
fectly correct, and that some events of general and deep importance
h;id taken place.

" I see," he said, in reply, after having answered their first saluta-
tions, " I see that something must have occurred with which I am
unacquainted. Remember, my good friends, that I have been absent
from the city for some weeks ; and for the last four or five days, I
have been in places where I was not likely to hear any public tidings."

" What !" cried one, " have you not heard the news? that the duke
has been beaten near the lake of Neufchatel, and all the forces with
which he was besieging Morat, have been killed or taken ?"

"How!" exclaimed another, "have you not heard that the Duke of
Lorrain is advancing towards Flanders with all speed?"

" Some say he will be at Ghent in a week," cried a third.

" But the worst news of all," said a fourth, in a solemn and myste-
rious tone, "is, that a squire, who arrived at the palace last night,
saw the duke stricken from his horse by a Swiss giant with a two-
handed sword ; and, according to all accounts, he never rose again."

" Good God ! is it possible ?" exclaimed Albert Maurice, as all
these baleful tidings poured in at once upon his ear, with a rapidity
which afforded him scarcely an opportunity of estimating the truth
of each as he received it, and left him no other feeling for the time
than pain at the ocean of misfortunes which had overwhelmed his coun-
try, though he looked upon the prince, who had immediately suffered,
as a brutal despot; and upon the nobles, who in general bore the brunt
of battle or defeat, as a number of petty tyrants, more insupportable
than one great one. " Good God ! is it possible ?" he exclaimed :
" but are you sure, my friends," he continued, after a moment's
pause, " that all this news is true ? Eumour is apt to exaggerate, and
increases evil tidings tenfold, where she only doubles good news ? Are
these reports quite sure ?"

Oh ! they are beyond all doubt," replied one of the merchants, with
a slight curl of the lip. " The Lord of Imbercourt who was on his
march to join the army, when he was found by couriers bearing
these evil tidings, returned with his spears in all haste to Ghent, in
order to guard against any disturbance, as he said, and to keep the
rebellious commons under the rule of law."

The man who spoke thus, was a small, dark, insignificant looking
person, whose figure would not have attracted a moment's attention,
and whose face might have equally passed without notice, had not the
keen, sparkling light of two clear black eyes, which seemed to wander
constantly about in search of other people's thoughts, given at least
some warning that there was a subtle, active, and intriguing soul con-
cealed within that diminutive and unprepossessing form. His name
was Ganay : by profession he was a druggist, and the chief, in

74 MABY OF BURGUNDY.

that city, of a trade, which differed considerably from that of the
druggist of the present day. It was, indeed, one of no small impor-
tance in a great manufacturing town like Ghent, where all the diffe-
rent fabrics required, more or less, some of those ingredients which
he imported from foreign countries.

In pronouncing the last words, " to keep the rebellious commons
under the rule of law," Master Ganay fixed his keen black eyes upon
the face of Albert Maurice with an expression of inquiring eagerness,
partly proceeding from an anxious desire to see into the heart of the
young citizen, whose character the other fully estimated ; partly from
a design to lead him, by showing him what was expected from him,
to say something which might discover his views and feelings.

He was deceived, however ; the very knowledge that his words
were to be marked, put the young citizen upon his guard ; and, con-
scious that there were mighty events gathering round, that his own
situation was precarious, and that of his country still more so, he felt
the necessity of obtaining perfect certainty with regard to the facts,
and of indulging deep reflection in regard to the consequences, before
he committed himself in the irretrievable manner which is sometimes
effected by a single word.

"Ha! " he exclaimed ; " ha! did he say so?" and he was about to
drop the dangerous part of the subject, by some common observation,
when another of the burghers changed the immediate topic of con-
versation, from the higher and more important themes which had
been lately before them, to matters much more familiar to the
thoughts of the citizens.

" But there is more intelligence still, good Master Albert Maurice,"
exclaimed a little fat merchant, whose face expressed all that extra-
vagant desire of wondering, and of exciting wonder, which goes
greatly to form the character of a newsmonger ; " but there is more
intelligence still, which you will be delighted to hear, as a good citi-
zen, and a friend to honest men. That pitiful, prying, bloodthirsty
tyrant, Maillotin du Bac, was brought into the town to-day in a lit-
ter, beaten so sorely, that they say there is not a piece of his skin so
big as a Florence crown which is not both black and blue. Faith, I
wonder that the honest men of the wood did not hang him to one of
their own trees."

" Ha !" again exclaimed Albert Maurice, but in a tone far more
raised with surprise than before, "how did he meet with such a mis-
hap ? He boasted that he would not leave a routier, or a free com*
panion in the land."

A low chuckle just behind him, as he pronounced these words,
recalled suddenly to his memory, that he had been followed into the
room by the monk called Father Barnabas; and, congratulating him-
self that he had suffered not a syllable to escape his lips that might
commit him in any degree, he turned towards the companion of hi3
journey, who, in the haste and confusion with which all these tidings
had been poured forth upon him, had been forgotten by himself and
overlooked by the others.

A few sentences in explanation of his appearance, and in general
reference to great services received from him on the road, instantly
called upon Father Barnabas the good-humoured civilities and atten-
tion of Martin Fruse, and might have turned the conversation to

MAKT OF BCKGUNDT. 7ft

other matters, had not the monk himself seemed determined to hear
more of the drubbing which had been bestowed upon Maillotin
du Bac.

" Verily, poor gentleman," he exclaimed, in a tone in which the
merriment so far predominated over the commiseration, as to rendei
it much more like the voice of malice than of pity ; " verily, poor
gentleman, he must be in a sad case. How met he with such a ter-
rible accident?"

" Why, father," you shall hear, replied the newsmonger, eager to
disburden his wallet of information upon a new ear ; "what I am going
to tell you is quite true, I can assure you, for my maid Margaret's
sister is going to be married to one of the soldiers of the Prevot's
band. It seems that they had searched the forest of Hannut all day
in vain, for a body of the green riders who had taken refuge there,
and also for a prisoner who had made his escape ; and towards night
they were making for Hal, because they would not go back to Hannut,
as the Prevot had some quarrel with the chatelain, when suddenly,
in the little wood, near Braine-la-Leud, they were met by a party of
fifty free companions, who drew up right across their way. The
captain, who, they say, was the famous Vert Gallant of Hannut him-
self, singled out the Prevot, and at the very first charge of the two
bands brought him to the ground with his lance. Du Bac, however,
was not hurt, and at first refused to yield; but the Vert Gallant
cudgelled him with the staff of his lance till there was not a piece of
his armour would hold together. He would not kill him, it seems;
and when the whole of the band were dispersed, which they were in
five minutes, with the exception of five or six who were taken pri-
soners, the Vert Gallant struck off the Prevot's spurs with his axe,
and, telling him that he was a false traitor, and no true knight, sent
him back to Ghent, with all the others who had been taken."

"While the burgher was detailing these particulars, the small grey
roguish eyes of the monk stole from time to time a glance at the face
of Albert Maurice with an expression of merriment, triumph, and
malice, all mingled intimately together, but subdued into a look of
quiet fun, which elicited a smile from the lip of the young citizen,
though the tale he had just heard furnished him with matter for
more serious reflection. The eyes of the druggist also fixed upon
him, while the story of the prevot's discomfiture was told by their
companion ; and the smile which he saw play upon the face of the
young burgher seemed to furnish him with information of what was
passing in the mind within, sufficient at least for his own purposes ;
for from that moment he appeared to pay little farther attention to
the subject before them, otherwise than by mingling casually in the
conversation that succeeded.

That conversation became soon of a rambling and desultory nature,
wandering round the great political events of the day, the fate of
their country, the state of the city itself, and the future prospects of
the land, without, however, approaching so near to the dangerous
matter which was probably in the heart of every one, as to call forth
words that could not be retracted. In fact, each person present felt
burdened by great but ill-arranged thoughts; and those who saw
most deeply into the abyss before them, were the least inclined to
venture their opinions ere they heard those of others.

76 MART OF BURGUNDY.

With that sort of intuitive perception which some men have at
what is passing in the breasts of those around them, Albert Maurice,
without the slightest exertion of cunning or shrewdness, without one
effort to draw forth the thoughts of those by whom he was surrounded,
comprehended clearly the peculiar modifications under which each
one present was revolving in his own mind what advantages might
be derived from — what opportunities might be afforded by — the dis-
comfiture and death of Charles the Bold, for recovering those immu-
nities and privileges which that prince had wrung from Ghent, after
they had been too often abused by her citizens. His first thought
had been of the same nature also : but the mention of Maillotin du
Bac had suddenly recalled to his mind his own particular circum-
stances and situation ; and it must be confessed, that, for a few
minutes, it was entirely directed to the consideration of how greatly
his own personal safety might be ensured by the events, the news of
which had reached Ghent during his absence.

The moment, after, however, he upbraided himself for his selfish-
ness ; and, casting all individual considerations away, he determined
to bend the whole energies of his mind to reap, from the circum-
stances of the times, the greatest possible degree of benefit for his
native city. As he pondered over it, the old aspirations of his soul
revived. Not only Ghent, he thought, might be benefitted, not only
Ghent might be freed, but the whole of Flanders might acquire a
degree of liberty she had never known. Still, as he reflected, the
image thus presented to his mind increased, and like the cloud of
smoke in the eastern fable, which rolling forth from the mouth of the
small vase, gradually condensed into the form of an enormous giant,
the thoughts which at first had referred alone to his personal safety
enlarged in object, and grew defined in purpose.

The whole continent at that time groaned under the oppression of
the feudal system, decayed, corrupted, and abused ; and as Albert
Maurice mused, he fancied that the freedom of Ghent and Flanders
once established, might afford an example to France, to Europe, to
the world. The trampled serf, the enchained bondsman, the oppressed
citizen, might throw off the weary yoke under which they had la-
boured for ages; the rights of every human being might become
generally recognised over the whole surface of the globe ; and broken
chains and acclamations of joy, the song of freedom and the shout of
triumph, presented themselves in hurried visions to his imagination,
while patriotism still represented a liberated world hailing his native
land as the champion of the liberty of earth.

Such thoughts rendered him silent and abstracted ; and as every
one else felt a degree of painful restraint, the various guests of Martin
Fruse, after lingering some time, rose to return to their dwellings.
Although it was now night, several of them, before they set foot
within their own homes, called upon different neighbours in their
way, just to tell them, as they said, that Master Albert Maurice had
returned to Ghent. None knew why ; but yet this information
seemed a piece of important news to all. By the sway which great
natural genius and energy insensibly acquire over the minds of men,
Albert Maurice, without ever attempting to force himself into pro-
minent situations, without effort or exertions of any kind, had taught
the wtole people of the city of Ghent to look to him for extraordinary

MARY OF BUKGUND1. 7?

actions; and thus each man who heard of his arrival, generally stole
forth to tell it to his next door neighbour, who again repeated it to a
third. The gossip and the newsmonger gave it forth liberally to
others like themselves ; so that by a very early hour the next morn-
ing the return of Albert Maurice, with a variety of falsehoods and
absurdities grafted thereon by the imaginations of the retailers, was
generally known, not only to those who were personally acquainted
with him, but to a number of others who had never seen him in their
lives-

CHAPTER XII.

The appetite for news is like the appetite for every other thing, sti-
mulated by a small portion of food ; and the various unsatisfactory
reports which had reached Ghent during the day, made her good
citizens devour the tidings of Albert Maurice's return with no small
greediness.

In the meanwhile, the young merchant communicated to his uncle,
immediately after the departure of the guests, that, from various cir-
cumstances, of which he would inform him more fully at another
time, he judged it not expedient to return to his own house, perhaps,
for some days. He prayed him, therefore, to allow him to occupy,
for a short space, the apartments which had been appropriated to him
during his youth, in the dwelling where he then was ; to which re-
quest, as his nephew had originally taken up a separate establish-
ment much against his wishes, Martin Fruse consented with no small
joy, and proposed that the monk, who still remained, should sleep in
the little grey chamber over the warehouse.

"Nay, nay," replied Father Barnabas, when he heard the proposal;
"nay, nay, dearly beloved brother Martin, no grey chamber for me;
by my faith I must be betaking myself early to-morrow to my own
green chamber, and in the meantime, I shall pass the night with a
friend of mine in the city, in pious exercises and devout exclamations."

Whether these pious exercises and devout exclamations might not
he the rapid circulation of the flagon, and many a jovial bacchanalian
song, there may be some reason to doubt. At all events, Albert
Maurice had a vague suspicion that it was so ; and after pressing the
monk to stay, as much as hospitality required, he ceased his opposition
to his departure, at the same time putting a purse of twenty golden
crowns into his hand.

The monk gazed for a moment upon the little leathern bag, whose
weight, as it sunk into his palm, seemed to convey to him a full idea
of its value ; and then raising his merry grey eyes to the face of his
travelling companion, he replied, "This is great nonsense, my son,
quite unnecessary, I assure you; and, indeed, I cannot accept it, ex-
cept upon one condition."

"What is that, my good father?" demanded the young burgher,
supposing that the monk was about to affect some notable piece of
disinterestedness.

" Merely that you will promise me, my son," replied Father Barna-
bas, "that in case you should ever hereafter meet with a certain
friend of ours, whom some people call the Vert Gallant of Hannut,
you will be as silent as the dead about ever having given a leathern

78 MART OF BURGUNDT.

purse to poor Father Barnabas, as he may well ask, what is the use
of a purse to a holy brother, who vows never to have any money to
put into it. Do you understand me, my son?"

"Perfectly, perfectly," replied Albert Maurice, " and promise you
with all my heart, never to mention it."

" So be it then," rejoined the monk, "and benedicite; — I shall take
the horse and the mule out of the stable, and speed upon my way."

As soon as the monk was gone, Albert Maurice explained to his
uncle, as briefly as possible, all that had occurred to him during hi?
absence from Ghent; and the distress, agitation, and terror of the
worthy burgher, at every stage of his nephew's story, were beyond
all description. "Alack, and a well-a-day! my poor boy," he cried; —
"alack, and a well-a-day ! I thought what all these travellings would
come to, sooner or later. Good Lord! good Lord! why should men
travel at all! In my young days I never, if I could help it, set my
foot three leagues out of Ghent ; and the first time I ever was seduced
to do so, I was caught by robbers in that cursed wood of Hannut, and
was obliged to sleep a whole night upon the cold damp ground."

The young citizen calmed his uncle's agitation as much as possible,
and then proceeded to consult with him as to the best means they
could adopt, in case that Maillotin du Bac should recover from the
drubbing he had received, and pursue, as he doubtless would, the
purposes he had previously entertained. In some things, Martin
Fruse was not deficient in shrewdness; and he instantly saw the ad-
vantages that would be gained by a personal application to the prin-
cess, if his nephew were again arrested.

" If," said he, " we still had our old laws, I should say at once, ap-
peal to the eschevins, because, as we used to elect them ourselves, we
should have had justice at least, if not favour. But now that the
twenty-six, from the Grand Bailli down to the last secretary, are all
named by the creatures of the duke, this Maillotin du Bac gets them
to warrant everything he does, while the princess, who is kind and
generous, will be sure to judge in your favour, especially when she
sees the papers that prove you were first arrested for taking part with
a woman ; and her council, who have nothing to do with the Prevot,
will take care not to thwart her who will one day be their mistress."

It was consequently determined, after some farther discussion, to
follow the line of conduct suggested by the leader of the adventurers.
Such precautions as were necessary to ensure against any of those
secret proceedings, which sometimes made clean conveyance with an
obnoxious person, before any of his friends were aware, were then con-
certed between Albert Maurice and his uncle ; and the young citizen,
pleading fatigue, retired to the apartments which he had occupied as
a boy.

There was something in the aspect of the chamber, the quaint
old tapestry, with the eyes of many of the figures shot through by the
arrows which lie used to direct against them, in the wanton sport of
childhood, the table notched with the boy's unceasing knife, the well
remembered bed, in which had been dreamed many of the pleasant
dreams of early years; there was something in the aspect of the
whole that called up the peaceful past, and contrasted itself almost
painfully with the present. Setting down the lamp which he bore in
his hand, Albert Maurice cast himself on a seat, and gazing round the

MARY OP BUKGUNDT. 79

apartment, while the thousand memories of every well known object
spoke to his heart with the sweet murmuring voice of the days gone;
and while all the perils and anxieties of his actual situation, the im-
minent danger from which he had just escaped, the menacing fate
which still hung over his head, and the fierce struggle in which he
was likely to be engaged, pressed for present attention, he could not
help exclaiming, "Oh, boyhood! happy, happy boyhood! must thou
never, never come again!" '

The busy and usurping present, however, soon took full possession
of his thoughts; and, casting from him all care for the individual
danger which threatened himself, he applied his whole mind to con-
sider the probable fate of his country. If the Duke of Burgundy were
really dead, he saw, and had long foreseen, that great and extraordi-
nary changes must take place. He knew that there was hardly a
town throughout all Flanders, Holland, or Hainault, which was not
ready to rise in arms, to recover some privilege wrested from its in-
habitants: to break some chain with which they had all been en-
thralled. He felt, too, and it was a proud consciousness, that he,
and he alone, throughout the whole land, was capable of wielding that
mighty engine, a roused-up multitude, for the great purpose to which
it can only be properly applied: the benefit and the happiness of the
whole. This consciousness arose from two circumstances: a thorough
and intimate acquaintance with the general characters of the leading
men in the various towns of Flanders, together with a knowledge that
each was individually selfish or weak, full of wild and unfeasible
schemes, or absorbed in narrow personal desires ; and, in the second
place, from the internal perception of immense powers of mind,
strengthened and supported by great corporeal vigour and activity.

Such qualities were not, indeed, all that was required to carry
mighty schemes to a successful result, especially where they were to
be founded on the consent and support of the vain and wilful multi-
tude. But Albert Maurice had on several occasions tried his powers
of persuading the crowd, and his ready eloquence had never failed to
lead, to convince, to command. Indeed, till the present moment, he
had felt almost fearful — surrounded, as he knew himself to be, by
watchful and jealous eyes — of the immense popular influence that he
was aware he could exert. But now, as he paused and considered the
probable events about to take place, he felt a triumphant security in
his own talents, and prepared to step forward, and secure a freer form
of government, for Ghent at least, if the reins had really fallen from
the hand that lately held them. His first thoughts, indeed, were all
turned towards the benefit of his native country, to the immense ad-
vantages that might be obtained for her, and to that mighty thing,
liberty, which was scarcely then known to the world. But it was not
in human nature, that some breathing of personal ambition should not
mingle with his nobler aspirations ; and for a moment he dreamt of
power, of rule, and sovereign sway, and of nobles trampled beneath
his feet, and of kings bending to court his alliance. The shade of Van
Artevelde seemed to rise from the deep past and beckon him on upon
the road to greatness.

It was but for a moment, however ; and when suddenly the better
spirit woke him from his dream, and showed him whither he was wan-
dering, he hid his face in his hands, with a mixed feeling of shame for

80 MARY OF BUKGUNDY.

having suffered himself to be betrayed into such thoughts, and an ap-
prehension lest, in some after-part of his career, when the golden
temptation was within his grasp, he should yield to the spirit that
even thus early had assailed him, and be in act what he had already
been in thought. The very idea of becoming so made him pause in
his resolves, uncertain whether to take any part, lest he should ulti-
mately take an evil one; and for a moment Albert Maurice, who
feared no mortal man, hesitated in fear of himself.

Eeflection, however, soon removed liis doubts : he knew his inten-
tions to be pure : and, calling before his mind the brightest examples
of past ages, he determined to hold them up to himself as models to
imitate, and to sacrifice everything to virtue. Even the very doubts
that he had entertained of himself made him choose his examples from
the sternest school of patriotism. He felt, perhaps, that any modern
efforts must fall below the standard of that antique firmness, which,
nurtured by the long habit of freedom, was with the Romans of the
republic a passion as much as a principle ; and, fixing his eyes upon
the earlier Brutus, he resolved that if ever in after-life the temptation
to wrong his country should assail him, he would use that talismanic
memory to charm the evil demon away for ever.

While he thus paused and thought, the night wore on ; all sounds
died away in the streets of Ghent : the footsteps in his uncle's house
ceased ; and, after the midnight watch had gone by in its round, not
a sound for some time disturbed the silence of the place. At length,
about one o'clock in the morning, he heard a step ascending the stairs
which led to his apartment, and a moment after a tap upon the door
announced that some one demanded admittance. He instantly rose,
threw back the tapestry, and opened the door, when, to his surprise,
he beheld the small keen features and sharp black eyes of the drug-
gist Ganay, beside the face of one of his uncle's servants.

The sight, indeed, accorded very well with his thoughts and
wishes; for though the person who thus visited him was, in character
and mind, as distinct — perhaps, I should say, as opposite, to himself
as possible, yet he was one of those men who, in moments of general
excitement, are often serviceable in the highest degree, and must bo
used for good, lest they should employ their talents for evil.

The little druggist had, in all his motions, a silent rapidity, a quick,
sharp, but stealthy sort of activity, which, to those close observers of
the human race, who pretend to read in the habitual movements and
peculiar customs of the body the character of the mind within, might
have spoken of dark and cunning designs, prompted by strong but
carefully hidden passions, with little scruple as to the means of ac-
complishing schemes once undertaken. Before Albert Maurice was
well aware of his presence, he was in the room beside him ; and in a
few brief words, spoken in a low but remarkably distinct voice, he
informed the young citizen that when he went away about two hours
before, he had requested the servant to wait and let him in, after the
rest of the family had gone to rest. Then, adding that he had busi-
ness of much importance to speak upon, he at once explained and
apologised for his intrusion.

Albert Maurice took his excuses in good part; and, bidding the
Bervant retire to rest, he closed the door and seated himself with his
visiter, well aware that he had to encounter a mind as keen and pe-

MARY OF BURGUN'DV. g]

netrating, tlioug'h far less powerful, than his own, on subjects difficult
and dangerous to discuss

" Master Albert Maurice," said Ganay, when they were alone, and
the retreating step of the servant had announced to his cautious ear
that his words were not likely to be overheard, " it were in vain for
you or I to attempt to conceal from each other, or from ourselves,
that the moment is come when extraordinary changes must take place
in our native land, or opportunities be lost which may never return.
To you, then, I come," he added, speaking with a serious earnestness,
which was intended to give the appearance of sincere conviction to the
flattery he was about to administer — flattery which, as he knew it to
be based in truth, he calculated upon being readily received, and pro-
ducing a particular purpose of his own — " to you, then, I come, Mas-
ter Albert Maurice, as to the man calculated, by nature and by cir-
cumstances, to take the most prominent part in the actions in which
tve are about to be engaged — to whom the eyes of all the citizens are
naturally turned, and on whom the welfare of our country must, in a
great measure, depend. My object is, in no degree, to pry into your
confidence, to obtrude advice upon you, or to hurry you forward faster
than you may think it necessary to proceed, but simply for the pur-
pose of offering you any assistance in my small power to give, and of
pointing out to you the necessity of thought and. consultation in re-
gard to the measures to be pursued."

The young citizen paused for a moment or two in meditation ere he
replied. " My good friend," he answered at length, " much conside-
ration is, indeed, as you say, necessary. In the first place, we are by
no means certain that our noble lord the duke is dead. If he be
living, it will be our duty, as good subjects and good citizens, to give
him all the aid in our power to repel his enemies and to recover his
losses."

The druggist bit his lip, and Albert Maurice continued: — "If, in-
deed, he unhappily have fallen in this rash attempt against the Swiss,
say what would you have us do ?"

"Nay, nay, speak you," replied the druggist; "for well do we all
feel that it is you must lead, and we must follow."

" I see but one thing that can be done," replied the young citizen — •
"humbly to tender our allegiance and' our services to the heiress of
the Burgundian coronet, and to petition her to confirm to us our liber-
ties and privileges."

He spoke slowly and calmly, in a tone of voice from which nothing
could be gathered in addition to the words he uttered ; and in vain
did the small dark eyes of his fellow-citizen scan his countenance to
discover something more. His face remained completely unmoved, if
it was not by a scarcely perceptible smile at the evident anxiety and
agitation with which his calmness and indifference affected his com-
panion.

_ "Good Heaven!" cried the druggist, starting up in the first impa-
tience of disappointed expectation, "Good Heaven! little did I expect
to hear such words from your lips! But no!" he added, after a
moment's pause of deep thought, during which he rapidly combined
every remembered trait in the character of Albert Maurice with his
present affected calmness, and deduced from it a true conclusion in
regard to his real motives, "But no! Young man, I have marked

82 MARY OF BURGUNDY.

you from your childhood. I know you as well as my own son ; nay,
better — for his light follies have made him an alien to my house,
though not to my heart. I have seen your character develop itself.
I have seen the wild spirit and petulance of boyhood become, when
brought under the sway of maturer reason, that overwhelming enthu-
siasm, which, like a mighty river, is calm only because it is deep and
powerful. Albert Maurice, you cannot deceive me; and let me tell
you, that even were the course which but now you proposed to pursue,
that to. which your feelings and your reason really led you, the people
of this country would leave you to truckle to power alone; and though
—wanting one great directing mind to curb their passions, and point
their endeavours to a just conclusion — they might cast one half of
Europe into anarchy, and rush upon their own destruction, most
assuredly they would do so rather than submit again to a new despot,
or place their lives and their happiness in the poxer of one who owns
no law, no justice but his own will."

"Think you they would do so, indeed?" demanded the young
eitizen, well aware of the fact, but somewhat doubtful still of the
Entire purity of his companion's motives. " Then, my good friend, we
must, as you say, for the safety and security of all, find some one who
may lead them to better things; but to succeed we must be cautious;
we must trust no man before we try him ; and we must first make
sure of those who lead, before we rouse up those who are to be led.
Ere one step is taken, too, we must ensure the ground that we stand
upon, and know what has been the real event of this great battle.
Nay, nay, protest not that it is as we have heard. Rumour, the
universal liar, sometimes will give us portions of the truth, beyond all
doubt ; but never yet, believe me, did she tell a tale that was not more
than one-half falsehood. But even granting that the chief point be
true, at the very threshold of our enterprise, we must learn each par-
ticular shade of thought and of opinion possessed by our great and
leading citizens. Nor must Ghent stand alone; each other city
throughout all Flanders must be prepared to acknowledge and support
the deeds of Ghent."

" You seem to have considered the matter deeply," said the druggist
with a smile; "but I fear such long preparations, and the time neces-
sary to excite the public mind "

"Fear not," interrupted Albert Maurice, "fear not. You little
know the commons if you suppose that time is necessary to call them
into action. A few shrewd words, false or true, it matters not, will
set the whole country in a flame as fast as news can fly. Give me
but just cause, a good occasion, and an opportunity of speech, and in
one half hour all Ghent shall be in arms."

" It may be so," replied the druggist, thoughtfully; "I doubt it not;
indeed I know it is so. But, methinks, my dear young friend, that
while we are proceeding with such slow circumspection, our enemies
may take their measures of precaution also ; and, as they have the
present power, may use and extend it to such good effect that all our
efforts will be fruitless. Already the Lord of Imbercourt has returned
with a hundred and fifty lances ; the number of nobles in the town,
with their retainers, will furnish near five hundred more."

" Again, fear not," replied Albert Maurice; "the popular mind is
as a magazine of that black hellish compound, which gives roar and

MAF.Y OP BUKGUNDY. 65

lightning to the cannon; one single spark, applied by a fearless hand,
will make it all explode at once. The nobles stand upon a mine; and
there are those in Ghent who will not fear to spring it beneath their
feet should there be need, which Heaven avert. One thing, however,
must be done, and that with speed. As a united body, these feudal
tyrants are powerful — too much so, indeed — but amongst them there
must be surely more than sufficient stores of vanity, wrath, hatred,
revenge, and all those other manifold weaknesses, which, skilfully
employed, may detach some of their members from their own body,
and spread division amongst them. Is there no one could be won ?"

" None that I know of," replied the druggist, " except, indeed, it
were my very good lord and kind patron" — he spoke with a sneer —
"Thibalt of Neufchatel, who now affects mighty popularity, bows his
grey head to the people as low as to his saddle-bow, calls them the
good commons, the worthy citizens of Ghent, and, no longer gone than
yesterday, made me, Walter Ganay, the poor burgher druggist, sit
down at his lordly table, and drink of his spiced wine. But I fear me,
my dear young friend, though the worthy lord may affect wonderful
popularity, and others of his rank may be brought to do the same,
they would never stand by us in the moment of need, the interest of
their class would soon resume its place in their thoughts, and they
would quit the citizens whenever the citizens wanted their help."

" That matters little," replied Albert Maurice, laying his hand upon
the arm of his companion. " The aid that we might derive from the
swords of half-a-dozen nobles were but dust in the balance; but the
advantages that we may derive from their seeming to be with us in
the outset, are great and incalculable. That which has overthrown
the finest armies that were ever yet brought into the field — that
which has scattered to the wind the noblest associations that ever were
framed for the benefit of mankind — that which has destroyed leagues,
and broken alliances, crushed republics under the feet of despots,
and blasted the best formed and brightest designs of human beings
— doubt, suspicion of each other; that, that great marrer of all men's
combinations, must be listed on our side against our oppressors.
We must teach them to fear and to suspect each other; and the
bonds that hold them together will be broken, and may remain
severed till it is too late to unite them again. This Thibalt of
Neufchatel," he added, hastily, " I have heard of him, and seen him
often. When I was a mere boy, I remember riding under his escort
from the forest of Hannut, and as haughty a lord he was as e'er I
met with ; but now, it would seem, he has changed his tone, and is
the popular, the pleasant noble, the friend of the commons ; he is
somewhat in his dotage too, just at that point where weakness affects
great wisdom. He must be won, by all means, if it be but for a day.
Is there no way, think you, by which he may be brought to show
himself amongst us at some popular meeting? A thousand to one
the very fact of his having done so, and the scorn that it will call
upon him from his fellow-nobles, by committing his vanity on our
side, wiU bind him to us for ever; and he will calmly look upon the
fall of his order, if it were but fgr the purpose of saying to eacV
ruined baron, ' If you had done as I have, you would have been safe
At all events," he added, " his presence with us would sow the firs
seed of disunion among the proud nobility: can no means be found?1

K4 MARY OP BCECJNOY.

"Oh, many, many, doubtless," replied the druggist; "but great
reverence and respect must be shown to him, and all ultimate views
must be concealed."

" Of course," answered Albert Maurice, " of course," and resting
his brow upon his hands, he remained in thought for several minutes.
" Mark me, good Master Ganay," he said, at length — " mark me, and
remember that you have sought me in this business, not I you.
Think not, therefore, that in giving you directions what to do, I wish
to arrogate to myself any superior power, or wisdom, or knowledge.
Deeply and fervently do I wish to serve my country. As far as I see
my way clearly, and as far as my countrymen choose to trust me,
willingly will I take a lead in their affairs. The moment my own
view or their confidence fails, I will draw back and leave the staff in
better hands. Let your first step, then be — at an early hour to-
morrow— to prompt as many of the principal citizens as you can
meet with, to assemble in the town-hall upon various pretences.
Speak to one about changes in the price of grain, and send him
thither to hear more. Tell another that the English wools have
failed, and let him come for news from across the seas. Bid a third
to the town-hall for tidings from France ; and a fourth for the news
from Switzerland. I, too, will be there ; and if you can so arrange it
as to bring Thibalt of Neufchatel to the same place by half-past ten
of the clock, I will have all prepared to fix him ours, if possible."

"I will undertake it," replied the druggist. "Albert Maurice, we
understand each other, though little has been said, and perhaps
wisely; yet we understand each other, and shall do so, without
farther explanations ; I give you good night."

"Farewell," said Albert Maurice, as the other rose to depart; "but
remember, above all things, no word to any one of this night's meet-
ing; for, if we should work well together for the benefit of all, we
must not be seen together too much. Again, farewell."

Thus saying, he raised the light, and, after guiding his visitor
through some of the long and tortuous passages of his uncle's dwell-
ing, he saw him depart, and closed the door for the night.

CHAPTER XHI.

Once more within the solitude of his own chamber, Albert Maurice
cast himself into a scat, and a degree of emotion not to be mastered,
passed over him, as he felt that he had taken the first step in a career
which must speedily bring power, and honour, and immortal glory—
or the grave. As I have before said, in all the mutinous movements
of the citizens of Ghent he had recoiled from any participation in
their struggles, both with a degree of contempt for such petty broils
as they usually were, and with an involuntary feeling of awe, as if he
knew that whenever he did take a part in the strife, it was destined
to become more deadly and more general than it had ever been be-
fore. There was nothing, indeed, of personal apprehension in his
sensations. They consisted alone of a deep, overpowering feeling of
the mighty, tremendous importance of the events likely to ensue, of
the awful responsibility incurred, of the fearful account to be given
by him who takes upon himself the dangerous task of stirring up •

MARY OF BUriCUNDY. 85

ration, and attempts to rouse and rule the whirlwind passions of a
fierce and excited people.

He had now, however, made the first step, and he felt that that
first step was irretrievable, that his bark was launched upon the
stormy ocean of political intrigue, that he had left the calm shore of
private station never to behold it again; and that nothing remained
for him but to sail out the voyage he had undertaken amidst all the
tempests and the hurricanes that might attend his course. It could
scarcely be called a weakness to yield one short unseen moment to
emotion under such feelings, to look back with lingering regret upon
the calm days behind, and to strive with anxious thought to snatch
some part of the mighty secrets of the future from beyond the dark,
mysterious veil which God, in his great mercy, has cast over the
gloomy sanctuary of fate. It was but for a moment that he thus
yielded ; and then, with a power which some men of vast minds pos-
sess, he cast from him the load of thought, prepared, when the mo-
ment of action came, to act decisively; and feeling that his corporeal
frame required repose, he stretched himself upon his bed and slept
without a dream — a sleep as deep, as still, as calm, as you may sup-
pose to have visited the tent of Cassar, when, conscious of coming
empire, he had passed the Kubicon.

It lasted not long, however; and the first rays of the morning sun,
as they found their way through the narrow lattice of his chamber,
woke him with energies refreshed, and with a mind prepared for
whatever fortunes the day might bring.

A few hours passed in writing, and a short explanation with his
uncle in regard to the exigencies of the approaching moment, con-
sumed the time between the young burgher's rising and the hour
appointed for the meeting in the town-hall; and accompanied by
worthy Martin Fruse, whom he well knew that he could rule as he
pleased, Albert Maurice proceeded into the streets of Ghent.

In deference to his uncle's dislike to the elevation of a horse's
back, the young citizen took his way on foot, followed, as well as
preceded by two serving men, to which the station of Martin Fruse,
as syndic of the cloth-workers, gave him a right, without the
imputation of ostentation. It was not, indeed, the custom of either
of the two citizens to show themselves in the streets of their own
town thus accompanied, except upon occasions of municipal state;
but, in the present instance, both were aware that, if the news
of the preceding day were true, sudden aid from persons on whom
they could rely, either as combatants or messengers, might be re-
quired.

It was a market-day in the city of Ghent, and as they walked on,
many a peasant, laden with rural merchandise, was passed by them
in the streets, and many a group of gossiping men and women, block-
ing up the passage of the narrow ways, was disturbed by the impor-
tant zeal of the serving men making way for the two high citizens
Whom they preceded. The streets, indeed, were all flutter and gaiety,
but the market-place itself offered a still more lively scene, being
filled to overflowing with the population of the town and the neigh-
bouring districts, in all the gay and glittering colours of their holi-
day costume.

Although the market had already begun, the principal traffic

86 MAKT OF BUKGUNDT.

which seemed to 3e going on was that in news ; and the buzz of
many voices, all speaking together, announced how many were eager
to tell as well as to hear. No sooner had the two citizens entered
that flat, open square, which every one knows as the chief market-
place of old Ghent, than the tall, graceful figure of the younger
burgher caught the eyes of the people around, and in answer to a
question from some one near, an artisan who had come thither either
to buy or sell, replied aloud — " It is Master Albert Maurice, the great
merchant, just returned, they say. from Namur."

The words were immediately taken up by another near ; and the
announcement of the popular citizen's presence ran like lightning
through the crowd. A whispering hum, and a movement of all the
people, as he advanced, some to make way, and some to catch a sight
of him, was all that took place at first. But soon his name was
given out louder and more loud as it passed from mouth to mouth ;
and at length some one in the middle of the market-place threw up
his cap into the air, and in a moment the whole buildings round
echoed with "Long live Albert Maurice, the good friend of the people
of Ghent:"

Doffing his bonnet, the young citizen advanced upon his way to-
wards the town hall, bowing on every side to the populace, with that
bland yet somewhat stately smile upon his fine arching lip, which
wins much love without losing a tittle of respect ; and still the people
as he went cheered him with many voices, while every now and then
some individuals from amongst them would salute him in various
modes, according to their rank and situation.

" Give thee good day, Master Albert Maurice !" cried one who
claimed some acquaintance with him. "God bless thee for a noble
citizen !" exclaimed another. " Long life to Albert Maurice!" shouted
a third. "What news from Namur?" demanded a fourth. "Speak
to us, noble sir!" again exclaimed another: "speak to us! speak to
us! as you one day did on the bridge!"

Such cries were multiplying, and popular excitement, which is
very easily changed into popular tumult, was proceeding to a higher
point than Albert Maurice wished, especial as amongst the crowd he
observed several soldiers. These, though a word would have ren-
dered them the objects of the people's fury, were, he thought, very
likely to become the reporters of the public feeling to the government,
before the preparations which he contemplated were mature ; and he
was accordingly hurrying his pace to avoid disturbance, when sud-
denly the sound of trumpets from the opposite side of the square
diverted the attention of all parties.

The young citizen turned his eyes thitherward with the rest, and
made his way forward in that direction, as soon as he perceived a
dense but small body of armed horsemen debouching from the street
that led from the palace, with clarions sounding before them and
raised lances, as if their errand were as peaceful as their garb was
warlike.

Apprehensive that something might occur which would require
that rapid decision and presence of mind which rule, in many cases,
even the great ruler — Circumstance, he hurried on, while the people
made way for him to pass ; probably from a tacit conviction that he
alone, of all the assemblage, was qualified to deal with important

MARY OF BURGUNDY. 8T

events. As he approached, the body of horsemen reached the little
fountain in the middle of the market-place, and he caught the flutter
of female habiliments in the midst of the guard.

At that moment the squadron opened, and, clearing a small space
around, displayed a brilliant group in the centre, on which all eyes
were instantly turned. A number of the personages of which it was
composed were well known, at least by sight, to the young burgher;
and, from their presence, he easily divined the names and characters
of the rest. Mounted on a splendid black charger, there appeared,
amongst others, the Lord of Ravestein, first cousin of the Duke of
Burgundy, together with the Duke of Cleves and the Lord of Imber-
court. The faces of these noblemen, as well as that of Margaret of
York, Duchess of Burgundy, Albert. Maurice knew full well; but in
the midst of all was a countenance he had never beheld before. It
was that of a fair, beautiful girl, of about twenty years of age, whose
sweet hazel eyes, filled with mild and pensive light, and curtained
by long dark lashes, expressed — if ever eyes were the mind's heralds
— a heart, a soul, subdued by its owe powers, full of deep feelings,
calmed, but not lessened, by its own command over itself. All the
other features were in harmony with those eyes, beautiful in them-
selves, but still more beautiful by the expression which they combined
to produce; and the form, also, to which they belonged, instinct with
grace and beauty, seemed framed by nature in her happiest mood to
correspond with that fair face.

Albert Maurice needed not to be told that there was Mary of Bur-
gundy. He gazed on her without surprise ; for he had ever heard
that she was most beautiful ; but, as he gazed, by an instinctive reve-
rence for the loveliness he saw, he took his bonnet from his head ; and,
all the crowd following his example, stood bareheaded before her,
while a short proclamation was read twice by a herald.

" Mary of Burgundy," it ran, " Governess of Flanders on behalf of her father,
Charles, Duke of Burgundy, to her dearly beloved citizens of Ghent. It having been
industriously circulated by some persons, enemies to the state, that the high and
mighty prince our father Charles, as aforesaid, Duke of Burgundy, and Count of
Flanders, Artois, and Hainault, has been slain in Switzerland, which God fore-fend !
and knowing both the zeal and love of the good citizens of Ghent towards our father,
and how much pain such evil tidings would occasion them, we hasten to assure
them that such a rumour is entirely false and malicious ; and that the duke our
father is well in health and stout in the field, as is vouched by letters received last
night by special couriers from his camp ; and God and St. Andrew hold him well
for ever. " Mary."

A loud cheer rose from all the people, while, bending her graceful
head, and smiling sweetly on the crowd, the heiress of Burgundy ac-
knowledged the shout, as if it had been given in sincere congratulation
on her father's safety. The princess and her attendants then rode on,
to witness the same proclamation in another place ; but Albert Mau-
rice stood gazing upon the fair sight as it passed away from his eyes,
feeling that beauty and sweetness, such as he there beheld, had
claims to rule, far different from those of mere iron-handed power.
He was wakened from his reverie, however, by some one pulling him
by the cloak; and, turning round, he beheld the little druggist,
Ganay, who, with an expression of as much bitter disappointment,
anger, and surprise, as habitual command over his featurss would ai-

88 HART OF BUKGUSD*.

low them to assume, looked up in the face of Albert Maurice, ds«.
manding, " What is to be done now ?"

"Where is the Lord of Neufchatel?" rejoined the young citizen,
without directly answering.

" Thank God, not yet arrived !" replied the druggist. " Shall I go
and stay him from coming ?"

"No!" answered Albert Maurice, thoughtfully. "No, let him
come : it were better that he should. Now, fair uncle," he continued,
speaking to Martin Fruse, who had followed him through the crowd,
and still stood beside him where the multitude had left them almost
alone; "now, fair uncle, let us to the town-hall, whither Master
Ganay will accompany us. You, who are good speakers, had better
propose an address of the city in answer to the proclamation just
made ; and the good Lord of Neufchatel, who will be present, will
doubtless look on and answer for your loyal dispositions. For my
part, I shall keep silence."

He spoke these words aloud, but with a peculiar emphasis, which
easily conveyed to the mind of the druggist his conviction that the
farther prosecution of their purposes must be delayed for the time ;
and as they proceeded towards the town-hall, Albert Maurice, by a
few brief words, which good Martin Fruse neither clearly understood
nor sought to understand, explained to the other the necessity of
keeping the Lord of Neufchatel attached to their party.

Albert Maurice then fell into silence which was deep and somewhat
painful ; and yet, strange to say, the news that he had heard of the
Duke of Burgundy's safety, and the turn that the affairs had taken,
was far from a disappointment to him — it was a relief. The very
sight of the princess had made him thoughtful. To behold so fair,
and seemingly so gentle a creature, and to know that, as he stood
there before her, he bore within his own bosom the design, the resolve
— however noble might be his motives, however great the object he
proposed — of breaking the sceptre which was to descend to her, and
of tearing from her hand the power she held from her mighty ances-
tors, produced feelings anything but sweet. Thence, too, thought ran
on ; and he asked himself, why was her reign the one to be marked
out for overthrowing the ancient rule of her fathers? and he was
forced to acknowledge, that it was because she was weak and young,
a woman, and an orphan — and that was no very elevating reflection
Still farther, as he once more passed across the whole extent of tht
market-place, when the princess had just left it, he found all the busy
tongues which had been lately vociferating his name, now so occupied
with the fresh topic, that he walked on almost without notice ; and
contempt for that evanescent thing popular applause, did not tend to
raise his spirits to a higher pitch.

He entered the town-hall, then, gloomy ; and, though all the great
traders present united to congratulate him on his safe return to
Ghent, he remained thoughtful and sad, and could only throw off the
reserve which had fallen upon him, when the arrival of the Lord of
Neufchatel gave him a strong motive for exertion.

The other persons present received the noble baron, who conde-
scended to visit their town-hall, with a degree of embarrassment which,
though not perhaps unpleasing to him, from the latent reverence that
it seemed to evince, was, at least, inconvenient. But Albert Maurice,

MARY OP BURGUNDT. 69

on the contrary, with calm confidence in his own powers, &nd the
innate dignity which that confidence bestows, met the nobleman with
ease equal to his own, though without the slightest abatement of that
formal respect, and all those terms of courteous ceremony, to which
his station gave him a title, and which the young citizen was anxiouf
to yield. This mixture of graceful ease with profound reverence oi
demeanour, delighted not a little the old seneschal of Burgundy ; and
when, after a time, an address was proposed and discussed in his pre-
sence, and his opinions were listened to and received with universal
approbation, the sense of conscious superiority, satisfied pride, and gra-
tified vanity, taught the worthy old lord to regard the good citizens of
Ghent with feelings of pleasure and affection, very different from those
he had once entertained.

It so luckily happened, also, that on this, the first occasion of his
mingling amongst the citizens, their proceedings were of such a cha-
racter as could not, in the least, compromise him with his fellow
nobles. The matter discussed was merely a congratulatory address
to the princess, in answer to her proclamation, setting forth nothing
but loyalty and obedience, and carefully avoiding the slightest allu-
sion to all topics of complaint and discontent. The little druggist
Ganay spoke at length upon the subject ; and, piquing himself rather
than otherwise upon a degree of hypocritical art, he launched forth
into high and extraordinary expressions of joy on the good tidings
that the princess had been pleased to communicate, assured her of the
loyalty and devotion of the good people of Ghent, and even ventured
upon a high and laudatory picture of her father's character.

Albert Maurice stood by in silence ; and though the druggist so far
mistook his character as to imagine that the young citizen might ad-
mire the skill and dexterity with which he changed the purpose of
their meeting, such was far from the case. While Albert Maurice
listened, and suffered the other to proceed in a task with which he
did not choose to interfere, his feelings were those of deep con-
tempt, and he silently marked all the words and actions of the other,
in order to read every trait of his character, and to acquire a complete
insight into the workings of his dark and designing mind, which might
he useful to him in the events which were still to come. Nor was the
druggist alone the subject of his observation. Always a keen inqui-
sitor of the human heart, Albert Maurice now watched more particu-
larly than ever the conduct of the different influential citizens, as
persons with whom he might at an after-period have to act in
circumstances of difficulty; but it was upon Ganay that his attention
was principally fixed, both from a feeling that he should have to use
him as a tool, or oppose him as an enemy, if ever those events oc-
curred which he anticipated ; and also from a belief that the other, in
striving to hurry him forward, had some deep personal motive at the
bottom of his heart.

During the whole course of the discussion, the young citizen spoke
hut a few words, the tendency of which was, to add to the congratula-
tion of the citizens, addressed to the Princess Mary, the petition that
she would be the guardian and protectress of the liberties and privi-
leges of the citizens of Ghent. While he was in the very act of
speaking, there came a clanging sound, as if of a number of steps on
the grand staircase and, the moment after, an armed head appeared

90 MARY OP BURGUNDT.

above the rest ; a second followed, and then a number more ; and_ it
became very evident that a considerable band of soldiers were in-
truding themselves into a place, sacred by immemorial usage from
their presence. The citizens drew back as the troopers forced their
way on, and gradually, with many expressions of surprise and indig-
nation, gathered round the spot where Albert Maurice had been
speaking.

With the young burgher himself, indignation at the violation of the
privileges of the city overcame every other feeling; and, starting for-
ward before the rest of the burghers, he faced at once, with his hand
upon his sword, the inferior officer who was leading forward the men-
at-arms, exclaiming, "Back, back, upon your life!" in a voice that
made the vaulted roof of the building echo with its stern, determined
tones.

The officer did, indeed, take a step back at his command; for there
was a lightning in his eye at that moment which was not to be en-
countered rashly. " Sir," said the lieutenant of the Prevot, for such
he was, " I came here but to do my duty ; and I must do it."

"And pray, sir, what duty," demanded Albert Maurice, "can afford
you an excuse for violating the laws of your country and the privi-
leges of the city of Ghent? Have you never heard by chance that
this is our free town-hall, in which no soldier but a member of the
burgher guard has a right to set his foot ?"

"I come, sir," replied the man, "not so much as a soldier as an
officer of justice, in order to arrest you yourself, Albert Maurice,
charged with high treason, and to lodge you as a prisoner in the castle,
till such time as you can be brought to trial for your offences."

Albert Maurice deliberately unsheathed his sword, a weapon which
at that time the citizens of many of the great towns of Flanders and
Brabant held it their peculiar right to wear. Others were instantly
displayed around him; and at the same moment the little druggist
sprang up to the window, and, putting out his head, shouted forth,
" To arms, citizens of Ghent, to arms!" which words the ears of those
within might hear taken up instantly by those without; and the cry,
well known in all the tumults of the city of "Sta! sta! sta! to arms!
to arms!" was heard echoing through the square below, while Alber*
Maurice replied slowly and deliberately to the lieutenant of the
Prevot.

" Sir," he said, " whatever may be your motive for coming here, and
be the charge against me just or not, you have violated one of the
privileges of the city, which never shall be violated with impunity in
my person. I command you instantly to withdraw your men; and,
perhaps, on such condition, you may receive pardon for your offence.
As far as concerns myself, I appeal from your jurisdiction, and lay
my cause before the princess, to whom I am willing immediately to
follow."

"That, sir, is impossible," replied the lieutenant ; " nor will I consent
to withdraw my men till I have executed the commission with which
I am charged.

" Then witness every one," exclaimed Albert Maurice, " that the
consequences of his own deed rest upon the head of this rash man."

The two parties within the hall — of citizens on the one hand and
.soldiers on the other — were eaually matched in point of numbers,

HART OF BUEGUNDT. 91

though the superior discipline and arms of the Prevot's guard would,
in all probability, have given them the advantage in the strife that
seemed about to commence ; but while each body paused, with that
natural reluctance which most men feel, to strike the first blow, the
multiplying shouts and cries in the square before the town-house, gave
sufficient notice that an immense superiority would soon be cast upon
the side of the citizens. Both Albert Maurice and the Prevot's lieu-
tenant caught the sounds ; and the former, pointing towards the open
windows, exclaimed, " Listen, and be warned!"

" Do you, sir, really intend to resist the lawful authority of the
duke?" demanded the other, with evident symptoms of shaken reso-
lution and wavering courage.

"Not in the least," replied Albert Maurice, calmly but firmly;
"nor do I desire to see blood flow, or tumult take place, though the
cause be your own rash breach of the privileges of the city. I appeal
my cause to the princess herself; and you well know, from the very
name you have given to the charge against me — that of treason — that
the eschevins of the city are incompetent to deal with the case."

" Nay, but the princess cannot hear your cause to-day," replied the
lieutenant of the Prevot ; "for she has gone forth but now towards
Alost, to publish the safety of my lord the duke. You must, there-
fore, surrender yourself a prisoner till she returns."

" Nay, nay," replied Albert Maurice, " not so. Here all the chief
citizens of Ghent will be surety for my appearance. Into their hands
I yield myself, but not into yours."

"I must have better bail than that," answered the lieutenant, with
the perturbation of his mind evidently increasing every moment, as
the shouts became louder without, and the noise of frequent feet in
the stone vestibule below, gave notice that his position was growing
every instant more and more dangerous.

At that moment, however, the old Lord of Neufchatel advanced to
the side of the young citizen. " Hark ye, master lieutenant," he
said, " to end all this affray, I, Thibalt of Neufchatel, knight and
noble, do pledge myself for the appearance of this young citizen, Mas>
ter Albert Maurice, to answer before the princess the crime with which
he is charged ; and I become his bail in life and limb, lands and lord-
ship, in all that I can become bound or forfeit, to my lord the duke:
and now, sir, get you gone ; for this day have you committed a gross
and shameful outrage against the privileges of these good people of
Ghent; and I, old Thibald of Neufchatel, tell you so to your beard."

" Long live the Lord of Neufchatel ! Long live the defender of the
people of Ghent! Long live the gallant friend of the commons !"
shouted a hundred voices at once, as the old noble thus far committed
himself in their cause, and waved his hand for the lieutenant of the
Prevot to retire.

Much would that officer now have given to be permitted to do so,
without any prospect of annoyance ; but by this time, the two large
entrances at the end of the hall were completely blocked up by a
dense crowd of traders and artisans, armed hastily with whatever
weapons they had been able to find, from partisans to weavers' beams.
Beyond the doorways, again, the antechamber was completely filled
by men of the same description ; and from the number of voices
shouting up and down the great staircase, it was clear that the whole

92 MART OP BURGUNDY.

townhouse was thronged with the stirred-up multitude. Those who
had first reached the door had, with more moderation than might
have been expected, paused in their advance, as soon as they saw
the parley that was going on between the citizens and the soldiers.
But when the lieutenant of the Prevot turned round to effect his re-
treat, they made no movement to give him way, and stood firm, witt
a sort of dogged determination, which the slightest word from any
one present would have changed in a moment into actual violence.
The officer paused as soon as he saw the attitude they had assumed,
and eyed them with doubt not a little mingled with fear. The citizens
round Albert Maurice stood silent, as if undetermined how to act ;
and the grim faces of the crowd, worked by many an angry passion,
filled up the other side of the hall.

The resolution of Albert Maurice himself was taken in a moment;
and, advancing from amongst his friends, he passed round before the
Prevot's band, and approached the crowd that obstructed their passage
out. " My good friends," he said, " let me entreat of you to keep
peace, and let these men depart quietly. Let us not risk our rights
and privileges, and stain a just and noble cause, by any act of violence.
Let them go forth in safety; and we here, your fellow-citizens, will see
that no breach of our rights take place."

No one moved a step ; and, for a moment or two, the leaders of the
crowd remained in silence, looking alternately at each other and at
the young speaker, with an expression of countenance which boded
but little good to the luckless band of the Prevot. At length one gruff
voice demanded, " What do they here?"

"They came with orders from their superior officer," replied Albert
Maurice, "for the purpose of arresting me."

"Then they should die for their pains," replied the same rough
voice, which was supported by loud cries from behind of " Down with
them ; down with them!"

"Nay, nay," exclaimed Albert Maurice, raising his tone, "it must
not — it shall not be so. Men of Ghent ! for my honour, for your own,
for the safety and privileges of the town, let them pass free. If yor
love me," he added, in a gentler voice.

This appeal to their affection for himself was not without its effect ;
and, after considerable persuasions and delays, he prevailed upon
them to withdraw from the ante-chamber and the staircase ; and then,
leading down the lieutenant himself, he conducted him and his men-at-
arms through a lane of very ominous-looking faces in the vestibule,
out into the great square, which was now thronged in almost every
part by bodies of the armed populace. Through the midst of these,
also, though not without considerable danger, Albert Maurice obtained
a free passage for the Prevot's band ; nor did he leave them till he had
seen them clear of all obstruction. The lieutenant had remained
completely silent during their passage through the crowd, except when
called upon to give some command to his men concerning their array
"When, however, they were free from the people, he took the hand of
the young citizen in his, and wrung it hard : " Master A Ibert Maurice,"
he said, " you have acted a noble part, and it shall be remembered
when it may do you good."

" Let it be remembered, sir," replied the young citizen, " to show
that the people and burghers of Ghent, while they are determined to

MAKY OP BURGUNDY. 93

maintain their rights with vigour, are equally determined not to main-
tain them with violence. Do but justice, sir, to our motives and our
conduct, and we demand no more."

As soon as he had seen the little band of soldiers placed beyond the
risk of all farther opposition, he returned to the town-hall, amidst ths
shouts of the people, who were now lingering to talk over the events
that had already occurred, and to discover whether anything fresh
might not arise to give them an opportunity of exercising the arms
they held in their hands, and of satisfying the spirit of tumult that
had been excited amongst them. On his arrival in the hall, the young
citizen instantly approached the Lord of Neufchatel, saying, " Of
course I consider myself as a prisoner in your hands, my lord, till
such time as I can be heard in my own defence by the princess and
her council, which, I beseech you, may be as soon as you can bring it
about."

" You seem to understand all these things, young gentleman,"
replied the old noble, "as well as if you had been born to courts.
Let us now go forth, then, to my lodging, where I will entertain you
as well as my poor means will admit; and will immediately send
to ascertain when the princess will condescend to hear your cause."

This mode of proceeding was, of course, immediately adopted ; and
Albert Maurice accompanied the Lord of Neufchatel to his dwelling ;
where, partly as a prisoner, partly as a guest, he remained during
the rest of the day, and the night that followed. The conduct of his
entertainer towards him was a combination of stately hospitality and
patronising superiority ; and Albert Maurice himself, without abat-
ing one jot of that innate dignity and proud sense of mental great-
ness, which more or less affected his usual demeanour, succeeded, by
showing all due reverence for the rank of his host, and expressing no
small gratitude for the liberal feeling he had displayed towards him,
in gaining each hour more and more upon the old officer's esteem.
The whole history of his case also, as it had occurred, and the written
testimony which he produced to show the cause of his arrest by
Maillotin du Bac, afforded a sufficient presumption of his inno-
cence to satisfy the old Lord of Neufchatel, who assured the young
citizen of his personal protection and support before the council.

Late in the evening a messenger from the palace announced, that
at noon the next day the Princess Mary would hear Albert Maurice
and his accusers; and shortly after the old lord left him for the
night, bidding him amuse himself with a few books and papers which
he pointed out in the chamber assigned to him, and recommending
him not to think further of to-morrow, as his acquittal was certain.
Albert Maurice, willingly following his advice, sat down to read, and
the sun soon after set to the young citizen, leaving him in a posi-
tion as different as it is possible to conceive, from that which he had
contemplated the night before, as his probable situation at the end of
four-and-twenty hours.

And so it is through life ! Where is the cunning astrologer, or
sage, or politician, who can lay out, beforehand, the scheme of a
•ingle day'

94 MARY OP BURGUWDT.

CHAPTEK XTV.

During the course of the following morning, Albert Maurice was
visited, in the sort of honourable imprisonment to which he was sub-
jected, by all the chief citizens of Ghent; and a number of them
beggen permission of the ex-seneschal of Burgundy to accompany
their young townsman to the council-table of the palace. This was
immediately granted to Martin Fruse and several others, who, by
relationship or connection, could claim a near interest in the fate of
Albert Maurice. At the same time the rumour of what was about to
occur spread all over Ghent, and before the arrival of the appointed
hour, a large crowd, composed of different classes, surrounded the
great gate of the dwelling of the Lord of Neufchatel. At about half-
past eleven, one of the young citizen's own horses was brought from
his house to the place of his temporary abode ; and, shortly after, the
old nobleman rode forth, accompanied by his prottge, and followed by
half a dozen of the principal burghers ; while a party of about twenty
of his own armed attendants brought up the rear of the cavalcade.
In this order, and amongst deafening shouts from the people, who ran
on by the sides of their horses, they proceeded to the palace, where a
considerable crowd was also assembled.

In the court-yard, drawn up so as to face the great gate, was a
small body of men-at-arms clad in complete steel, with horses furnished
with that sort of defensive armour called bard or bardo; which in a
double line from the entrance of the outer inclosure to the steps before
the palace, appeared a strong body of harquebussiers with their slow
matches lighted, as if prepared for an anticipated struggle: behind
these again, appeared the soldiers of the Prevot's guard, who were
chosen in general from those lighter and more active troops, which at a
former period were called in the English armies hobblers, but
which had now generally obtained the name of jennetaires, from
the jennets or light Spanish horses on which they were usually
mounted.

The Lord of Neufchatel and his companions alighted at the outer
gate, and passed on foot through the formidable military array above
described. The old nobleman led the way, followed by Albert Mau-
rice, who, with a firm step and an upright carriage, but without the
slightest touch of bravado in his demeanour, passed along the whole
line, which, he plainly saw, was drawn up to overawe any attempt to
rescue him, which the populace might be inclined to make in case of
his condemnation. The same demonstrations of military force ap-
peared in the outer hall, and in an ante-room beyond, in which the
young citizen and his companions were detained for a few minutes,
while his arrival was announced in the chamber of audience with
which it communicated.

It were vain to say that no shade of emotion passed through the
bosom of Albert Maurice as he stood there waiting for a hearing
which was to determine his fate for life or death ; but still his feel-
ings were different from those which men of less firm nerve might be
supposed to experience, on such an occasion. Poor Martin Fruse,
who stood behind him, quivered in every limb with anxiety and ap-

MART OP BURGUNDY. 95

prehension ; fidgeted here and there, and many a time and oft plucked
his nephew by the sleeve, to receive rather than to yield consolation
and encouragement. The countenance of the young burgher, how-
ever, was in no way troubled : there was in it that expression of deep
grave thought, which befitted the time and circumstances ; but his
brow was unclouded, his cheek had lost not a tint of its natural hue,
and his lip quivered not with anything like agitation.

After a brief pause, two soldiers, who stood with their partizans
crossed before the entrance of the audience hall, raised their weapons
at a signal from within. The doors were thrown open, and in the
midst of much hurrying and confusion, for a number of persons had
by some means gained admission to the ante-chamber to witness the
proceedings, Albert Maurice, and those who accompanied him, were
led forward to the end of a long table, at which were seated a body of
the noblest men of the land. A wooden bar had been drawn from
each side of the council-board to the wall on either hand ; and two
soldiers with drawn swords were placed within these barriers, to
prevent the spectators from advancing beyond them. The space
thus left at the end of the hall, being but small, was soon filled up ;
and the doors were immediately closed by the orders of the Lord of
Imbercourt, who was sitting near the head of the table.

In the chair of state, which occupied the principal place at the
table, sat the same gentle, beautiful being whom Albert Maurice had
seen the day before in the great square. She was dressed as befitted
her state and station ; and, in a semicircle behind her, stood a bevy
of fair girls, whose beauty, however, faded completely before her own.
She was somewhat paler than on the day before, and perhaps a slight
degree of agitation and anxiety might be visible in her looks : but;
still the predominant expression of her countenance was gentle calm-
ness ; and, as she raised the dark fringes of her soft hazel eyes to-
wards the accused, when he took his place at the end of the table,
they seemed to say, " I shall be a lenient judge."

His eyes met hers for a moment, and the colour rose slightly in her
cheek as they did so ; while, at the same time, a thrill of feelings,
new and strange, passed through the heart of Albert Maurice. The
principal places of the council-table were filled by the Lords of Raves-
tein, Imbercourt, Hugonet, and Vere ; but the Duchess of Burgundy
herself, the wife of Charles the Bold, was not present.

A momentary silence succeeded the bustle of their entrance, and
the Lord of Neufchatel surrendered in due form the prisoner for
whom he had become responsible, and claimed to be delivered from
the charge. The business of the council then seemed suspended for
a time, from some motive which Albert Maurice did not understand.
This was explained, however, the minute after, when a door, which
opened into the space within the bar, was thrown back, and Maillotia
du Bac, his countenance as pale as ashes, his arm in a sling, and his
head wrapped in innumerable bandages, was supported into the hall
oy two attendants. The eye of the princess fixed upon him with an
expression of grief and compassion ; and making an eager gesture
with her hand, she exclaimed, "Place him a chair, place him a chair!"

This command was immediately obeyed ; and after the Prevot had
paused for a few minutes to regain strength, he was directed to proceed
with his charge against Albert Maurice, qualified simply as a citizen

96 MAKY OF BURGUNDY

of Ghent. This he instantly did with a loudness of tone and a de<
gree of vindictive vehemence, which no one could have supposed him
capable of exerting, from the weak state in which he appeared to be.
His present charge was somewhat differently couched from that which
he had made against the young citizen at the castle of Hannut: he
passed over in complete silence all the circumstances of the prisoner's
arrest, merely stating that he had received information of a treason-
able communication carried on by this young citizen between Ghent,
Namur, and France ; and that he had arrested him accordingly. On
his person he said he had found letters, the tendency of which placed
the facts beyond doubt ; and also showed that the prisoner was crimi-
nally connected with those lawless bands of routiers and plunderers
called the Green Eiders. He then went on to detail his having nlaced
him securely in one of the strongest dungeons of the castle of Hannut,
and of his having discovered the next morning that the dungeon was
vacant. How it became so he said he could not tell ; but certain it
was that he had not been received by the Lord of Hannut with that
courtesy and willing co-operation which, as an officer of the Duke of
Burgundy he had a right to expect. He next detailed to the council
his pursuit of the Green Riders ; and related the manner in which
he had been attacked and defeated, although he rated the number of
the brigands as not less than triple that of his own band. It was evi-
dently their design, he said, and probably their whole design, to de-
prive him of the papers which proved the guilt of their comrade and
ally, who stood there at the end of the table. In this view they had
unfortunately been too successful ; but he was ready to swear upon
his knightly oath, and two or three of the band, to whom he had
shown those papers, were prepared to bear witness, that they were of
a most treasonable character.

To confirm this statement two of the troopers were accordingly
called in, and swore to the Prevot having shown them the papers found
upon the prisoner's person, which were full of treason in every line.

During the evidence of one of these persons, the eye of Maillotin
du Bac detected the old Lord of Neufchatel in whispering something
to the prisoner; and he exclaimed loudly and indecently against
that nobleman for conniving with a base mechanical citizen, and a
traitor.

" Hark ye, Sir Maillotin du Bac," replied the old lord, bursting
forth with no small indignation, "you yourself are a grovelling hound;
and by the Lord that lives, the first time I meet thee I will drub out
of thee the little life that the good Green Riders have left thee, and
more — "

"Peace, peace, sirs," interrupted the Lord of Imbercourt; "you
forget the presence in which you stand, your own dignity, and the
solemnity of the occasion. My Lord of Neufchatel, do you object to
tell the council what you whispered but now in the ear of that young
man ?"

"Not I, in faith," replied the other; "that was just what I was
about to tell you when you interrupted me. I was then saying that
the fellow there, who has just sworn to having read so much treason,
must have learned to read very fast, and somewhat late in the day;
for not a year ago he was trumpeter in my train, and could not tell
in A from a Z."

UAvf? OP BURGUNDY. »7

"Ha!" cried the Lord of Imbercourt, "this must be looked to.
Some one hand him a book. Methinks thou turnest mighty pale," he
added, speaking to the trooper as his command was obeyed ; and a
volume of the archives of Burgundy was placed in the man's hand.
"There, read me that sentence 1"

With trembling hands the man held the book, gazing with a white
face, and lack-lustre eyes, upon the characters which it contained,
and which were evidently to him meaningless enough. After a mo-
ment's vain effort to perform the impossible task, he lifted his eyes,
and rolled them, full of dismay and detected guilt, round the faces of
all present; while Maillotin du Bac, in rage and disappointment, set
his teeth firm in his pale lip, and stamped his foot heavily upon the
ground.

The brow of the Chancellor Hugonet darkened ; and, pointing to
the man who had so evidently committed a gross and wilful perjury,
he exclaimed, " Take him away, and let him be well guarded." The
command was immediately obeyed, and the trooper was hurried out
of the chamber by two of the attendants.

" Do you not think, my lords," said the low sweet voice of Mary of
Burgundy, " that we may dismiss this cause ? If it be supported by
such witnesses as these, it will bring more disgrace upon our nation
than can be well wiped off."

" We must not forget, madam," replied Imbercourt, " that here is
justice to be done to the characters of two persons, the accused and
his accuser; and though the nature of the testimony offered as yet
may well induce us to view this charge with suspicion, yet we should
be doing less than justice to this young citizen of your good town of
Ghent did we not give him the opportunity of clearing his character
fully from even a shade of doubt. Sir Maillotin du Bac," he added,
somewhat sternly, "have you any other testimony to produce in
support of your accusation?"

" Methinks," replied the Prevot boldly, "that my own word and
testimony should be enough."

" Not here, sir," replied Imbercourt. " You, young gentleman," he
added, addressing the young burgher, "you have heard the charge
against you; do you desire to speak in your defence?"

" I pray thee, do so, young sir," said the princess, bending slightly
forward ; " we would fain believe you wholly innocent, for we cannot
believe that our noble father, the Duke Charles, can have done any-
thing to turn one true heart against him; and we would fain hear
that such a word as treason is unknown in the good land of Flanders,
except in the mouths of base calumniators, such as the man who but
now has been taken hence."

Albert Maurice bent low his head, and then, raising his eyes, he
replied, "Madam, for your good opinion I would plead long, and, that
I felt conscious of my innocence, and able to establish it before you,
you may in some degree see, by the bold appeal I have made to your
justice, rather than trust myself in the hands of one whose character
is not famous for equal dealing. It seldom happens, lady, that even
in this evil world one man persecutes another without some motive,
springing from either avarice, ambition, or revenge ; and yon Prevot'u
bare word, perhaps, might weigh even against the fair character I
trust I have hitherto borne, could I not prove that, besides the general

98 MARY OF BURGUNDY.

hate which he bears towards the citizens of Ghent, he has a cause of
personal animosity against myself. The tale is soon told, and the
proofs of its veracity are in my hand," he added, laying his finger
upon the papers which he had collected to prove his innocence. " In
the small town of Gembloux, whither I had gone on business relating
to the traffic of my house, I heard a woman's scream, and saw the
wife of an honest burgher insulted and ill-treated at her own door by
one of the brutal soldiers of that Prevot's band; a band, lady, which,
by their insolent contempt of all the ordinary charities and feelings of
civil Afe, have brought more hatred upon the rulers of Flanders than
ever your noble father dreamt of, and than ever their services against
the brigands can repay. But no more on that score," he continued,
as the Lord of Imbercourt held up his hand with a warning gesture.
" Suffice it, I saw a woman ill-treated by one of the soldiers of his
band, and I struck the miscreant to the earth in the very deed ; and
where is there a Christian man, be he knight, or noble, citizen, or
peasant, who shall say that I did wrong? Before I was aware, how-
tver, I was seized and overpowered by numbers, my arms tied with
Cords, my horse-boy beaten and driven out of the town, my baggage
plundered, and several sealed letters which I was bearing from Namur
to Ghent broken open and read for the purpose of forging accusations
against me."

"You hear, lords, you hear!" exclaimed Maillotin du Bac; "he ac-
knowledges the fact of the letters, mark that."

"Ay, do mark it, noble lords! mark it well," continued Albert
Maurice, boldly ; " I do acknowledge it. Nay, more, I acknowledge
that in those letters was the expression of some grief and indignation
felt by the people of Namur, on account of infringed rights and
violated privileges. But at the same time, I do most strictly deny
that I knew one word of the contents of those letters, till they were
read by yon bad man in my presence; and still more, I affirm that,
even hid I known everything that they contained, or had I written
them myself, there was no sentence in them which tyranny itself
could wrest into such a crime as treason. Lady, and you, lords of the
council, yon Prevot has called witnesses to tell you what were the
contents of those letters, and of the honour and good faith of those
witnesses you have had an opportunity of judging. I will now call
upon a witness also, with whose character you have equal means of
being acquainted. My Lord of Imbercourt, to you I appeal. Those
letters were shown to you in my presence; and if you can, upon ycur
knight ly honour, declare that they contained treason, do so before the
world."

" Your appeal to me, young gentleman," replied the Lord of Imber-
court, " must not be made in vain. I do most solemnly declare, on
my honour and oath as a belted knight, that in the letters shown me
by the Prevot, as found upon that young citizen's person, though there
were some expressions bordering upon turbulent discontent, yet there
was nothing, in my poor judgment, which any sane man could construe
into treason."

The eyes of Mary of Burgundy had fixed eagerly upon the counsel-
lor as he spoke ; and when he uttered the last words, a bright smile
of gentle satisfaction lighted up all her features, while a slight glow,
spreading over her face, seemed to tell with what anxiety she had

MARY OF BURGUNDY. 53

listened to the testimony of the Lord of Imbercourt. That smile and
that glow were not unmarked by Albert Maurice; and his own cheek
flushed, and his own rich voice rather trembled, as he proceeded with
the next sentences of his defence.

"On such grounds of accusation, lady," he continued, "was I
dragged along, tied hand and foot as a criminal of the worst descrip-
tion, hurried forward in this situation with the rest of the troop, while
they attacked a party of routiers in the forest of Hannut, carried on to
the castle in that forest, and thrown into a dark dungeon, with a pile
of straw for my bed. I thence made my escape "

" How?" shouted Maillotin du Bac; "how?"

" How matters not," replied Albert Maurice.

" Ay, by my faith, but it does," rejoined the Prevot ; " for I accuse
you, Sir Citizen, of leaguing with those forest swine that have so long
plundered and desolated the land. Every one of my men can bear
witness that for the papers concerning you alone was I attacked near
Braine-la-Leud ; that they were the first things sought for when we
were overpowered by numbers, and that the continual cry of their
leaders was, ' Secure the papers.' "

Albert Maurice paused, and the Chancellor Hugonet exclaimed,
" You had better explain your escape, young gentleman ; this gives a
new aspect to the case."

" On the facts that followed I can say something also," observed the
Lord of Imbercourt, "having been in the castle of my good brother of
Hannut when the absence of the prisoner was first discovered."

" Speak, then, my lord, speak," said Mary of Burgundy, eagerly ;
"such testimony as yours is beyond all question; and, unaccustomed
to such scenes as this, I would fain see this case terminated speedily
and well. Speak, then, my lord, and tell us all you know."

" It were better," replied Imbercourt, " and more in the forms of
justice, to suffer the accused to tell his own tale in regard to his
escape; before I give any evidence that I can upon the subject. If
you require it, sir," he added, addressing the young citizen, " I will
absent myself from the council-table while you deliver your statement,
that my testimony may be considered the more impartial."

" Not in the least, my lord," replied Albert Maurice, " do I desire
your absence at all ; nor is it my purpose to make any statement in
regard to my escape. Escape I did. Of course I could not have done
so effectually without some aid, from without or from within ; and I
do not choose to injure any one, however lowly or however high, by
implicating them in an affair like this. "Whatever you know upon the
subject must be from some other source, and, knowing my own inno-
cence in every respect, I hear you without apprehension."

" I have then but little beyond conjecture to advance," said Imber-
court. " On the morning after our arrival at the castle of Hannut,
this Prevot presented himself in great wrath before my noble brother-
in-law and myself, informing us of the escape of the prisoner, and
insinuated, in somewhat insolent terms, that the Lord of Hannut — as
loyal a nobleman as ever lived — had abetted the evasion. An instant
investigation was instituted, and we learned that the dungeon in
which the prisoner was left the night before had been found locked in
the morning. No sign of violence was to be seen when we examined
it in person, not a bar was broken, not a stanchion was moved j there

100 MART OF BURGUNDY.

fay the straw which had been the prisoner's bed, there stood the flago
and the bread which had been given him for his supper on the previou
night. But on inquiry, we found, that this Prevot, after some dee
drinking, and in a state, as several persons witnessed, of stupid drui
kenness, had visited the prisoner's cell at a late hour the precedin
night ; and we concluded that he had suffered the young burgher i
slip past him unobserved before he closed the door. Whether it wa
eo or not, none but himself can tell."

" My lord, as I before said, I will be silent on that point," replie
Albert Maurice ; " but the use which I made of my liberty would- t
quite sufficient, I should conceive, to prove that I had no very evil c
dangerous designs. I hastened immediately to Gembloux, where
obtained these papers, which I now lay before the council, to establis
fully the fact that I was arrested, in the first instance, solely fc
striking a soldier, who had insulted the wife of a burgher of the place
I then made all speed to Ghent, where I was sure of encountering m
adversary, but where I trusted also to obtain justice."

" And the first thing you did when you were in Ghent," exclaime
Maillotin du Bac, with the angry vehemence of disappointed hatrec
" was to stir up the people to tumult, to make seditious speeches i
the town-hall, to resist the lawful force sent to arrest you, and to in
cite the people to murder the officers that were despatched for you
apprehension. Pretty proofs of innocence, indeed! Well, well, th
princess and the lords of the council will see what will come of it, i
they suffer such doings to take place with impunity. Who will serv
the state, if the state will not support them in doing their duty? Th
strong hand, lords, the strong hand is the only way to keep down thes
turbulent, disaffected burghers."

" It must be the strong hand of justice, then, Prevot," replied Im
bercourt; " and let me tell you, that you yourself, by the unjust arres
of this young man, have done more to stir up the people to rebellioj
than the most seditious traitor that ever harangued from a marke
cross. Nor, sir, must you scatter such false and malicious accusation
without proofs. Before I sat down here, I, with several of the othe
lords now present, investigated accurately what had been the conduc
of this young burgher during the course of yesterday morning , and
find that, so far from his behaviour being turbulent and seditious, h
acted only as a loyal subject to our lord the duke, and was one of thosi
good merchants who drew up an address of congratulation on th
news of our sovereign's safety. More I found that, had it not beei
for his influence and strong exertions with the people, your lieutenan
and his band, Sir Prevot, would have been sacrificed to their indigna
tion, for imprudently intruding into a privileged place, while th
merchants of the good town were assembled in deliberation. No
can any one doubt the fact, for your own lieutenant was the first ti
bear witness to this young citizen's generous intercession in hi
favour."

Maillotin du Bac set his teeth hard, and stretched out his hand upoi
his knee, with a sort of suppressed groan, which might proceed eithe
from the pain of his bruises, or the disappointment of his malice
After a short pause, during which no one seemed prepared to say any
thing more, either in accusation or defence, the princess herself spoke
with that sort of timid and doubtful tone which was natural in one a

MARY OF BUKGUNDY. 101

young, so inexperienced, and so gentle on giving a decision upon so
important a cause, although it was sufficiently evident to all what her
decision must be.

" I think, my lords," she said, " after what we have heard, there
cannot be any great difference of opinion. The evidence which has
been brought forward seems not only to exculpate this young gentle
man from all charge whatever, but to cast the highest honour upon
his character and conduct. What say you, my lords? do you not
acquit him freely from all stain?"

The voices of the council were found imanimous in favour of the
accused ; and it was announced to him that he stood free and clear
from all accusation. The princess bowed to him, as his full acquittal
was declared, with a smile of gratification at the result, which sprang
from a pure, a noble, and a gentle heart, pleased to see a fellow crea-
ture, whose dignified deportment and graceful carriage could not but
win upon the weaknesses of human nature, establish clearly a higher
and more dignified title to esteem by tried virtue and integrity.
There was no other feeling mingled with her smile, nor did Albert
Maurice, for a moment, dream that there was; but, at the same time,
it wakened a train of thoughts in his own mind both dangerous and
painful. More than ever did he feel that he was born out of the sta-
tion for which nature had formed his spirit ; and more than ever did
his heart burn to do away those grades in society, which, though the
inevitable consequences of the innate differences between different
men, he, from mortified pride, termed artificial distinctions, and un-
just barriers betwixt man and man. It were to inquire too curiously,
perhaps, to investigate how the one sweet smile of that beautiful lip
woke in the heart of the young citizen a train of such apparently ab-
struse thoughts. So, however, it was ; and, as the doors of the
audience hall were thrown open behind him, allowing those to go forth
who had gained admittance to hear his examination before the coun-
cil, he bowed to the princess and the nobles present, with feelings in-
dividually more friendly to all of them, but certainly more hostile to
the general system of government, and the existing institutions of
society.

Still Albert Maurice entertained no presumptuous dreams in re-
gard to Mary of Burgundy. He thought her certainly the most
beautiful creature he had ever beheld. She had smiled upon him
sweetly and gently. She had been present at his examination herself,
though she might, notwithstanding his appeal, have left it to the de-
cision of her council. She had done him full and impartial justice ;
and she had seemed to derive a personal pleasure from his acquittal.
All this he felt strongly ; and he was fond to picture, from that fair
face, and those soft hazel eyes, a mind and a spirit within all gentle-
ness and excellence. He thought, too, that had mankind been in its
just and natural situation, where no cold rules placed as wide a dis-
tance between different classes as if they were composed of different
creatures, he might have striven to win, ay, and he thought he might
have won, that fair hand which had held the scales of justice for him
bo impartially.

Such feelings, and all the many collateral thoughts to which those
feelings gave rise, were busy in his breast, as he followed the good old
Lord of Neufehatel towards the door. Just as he was going out, he

102 MARY OF BURGUNDT.

turned to take one more glance, at the princess, the last, perhaps, he
was ever to obtain ; but Mary of Burgundy, and her ladies, had
already quitted the hall, as well as his accuser, Maillotin du Bac, who
had hastened away to conceal himself from popular indignation.
Nothing was to be seen but one or two of the members of the council
standing together in a group at the farther end of the table, and ap-
parently, by the gay laughter in which they were indulging, conversing
over some indifferent subject. Albert Maurice turned, and strode
through the ante-chamber, while the Lord of Neufchatel walked on
before him, demonstrating, with proud courtesy, various points of
feudal law to good Martin Fruse, who listened to his speech with every
mark of the most deferential respect. The young citizen was just
entering the outer hall, and he already heard the shouts of the people
in the square, welcoming with a glad voice the news of his acquittal,
which had preceded his own appearance, when somebody plucked him
by the sleeve, and one of the officers of the household informed him,
i a a low tone, that the Princess Mary required his presence for a mo-
ment in private.

The heart of the young burgher beat quick ; but without pause he
followed the attendant, as he turned away from him, and in a moment
had passed through one of the side doors into the private apartments
of the palace.

CHAPTER XV

Evert one knows that, in the early dawn of a Sicilian morning, the
shepherds and the watchers on the coast of the Messinese Strait will
sometimes behold, in the midst of the clear unclouded blue of the sky,
a splendid but delusive pageant, which is seen also, though in a less
vivid form, amongst the Hebrides. Towers and castles, domes and
palaces, festivals and processions, arrayed armies and contending
hosts, pass, for a few minutes, in brilliant confusion before the eyes of
the beholders, and then fade away, as if the scenes of another world
were, for some especial purpose, conjured up during one brief moment,
and then withdrawn for ever from their sight.

Thus there are times, too, in the life of man, when the spirit, ex-
cited by some great and stirring passion, or by mingling with mighty
and portentous events, seems to gain for a brief instant a confused
but magnificent view of splendid things not yet in being. Imagina-
tion in the one case, and her daughter Hope, in the other, give form
and distinctness to the airy images, though both are too soon doomed
to fade away amidst the colder realities of the stern world we dwell
in.

The mind of Albert Maurice had been excited by the scenes he had
just gone through; and success, without making him arrogant, had
filled him full of expectation. Each step that he took forward seemed
but to raise him higher, and each effort of an enemy to crush him
seemed, without any exertion of his own, only to clear the way before
him. Such thoughts were mingling with other feelings, brought forth
by the sight, and the voice, and the smile of Mary of Burgundy, when
the sudden call to her presence woke him from such dreams; but
woke him only to show to his mind's eye many a confused but bright
and splendid image, as gay, as glittering, as pageant-like, but as u»»

MABY «, BURGUNDY. 103

real also, as the airy vision which hangs in the morning light over the
Sicilian seas. Fancy at once called up everything within the wide
range of possibility. Battles and victories, and triumphant success-
the shout of nations and of worlds, the sceptre, the palace, and the
throne, and a thousand other indistinct ideas of mighty things, danced
before his eyes for a moment, with a sweeter and a brighter image,
too, as the object and end of ambition, the reward of mighty endea-
vour, the crowning boon of infinite success. But still he felt and
knew, even while he dreamed, that it was all unreal ; and, as he fol-
lowed the messenger with a quick pace, the vision faded, and left him
but the cold and naked truth. At length, after passing through
several chambers, which flanked the hall of audience, the door of a
small apartment, called the bower, was thrown open, and the young
burgher stood once more before Mary of Burgundy.

One of the most painful curses of high station is that of seldom, if
ever, being alone ; of having no moment, except those intended for
repose, in which to commune with one's own heart, without the op-
pression of some human eye watching the emotions of the mind as
they act upon the body, and keeping sentinel over the heart's index,
the face. Mary of Burgundy was not alone, though as much alone as
those of her station usually are. She stood near a window, at the
other side of the apartment, with her soft rounded arm and delicate
hand twined in those of one of her fair attendants, Alice of Imber-
court, on whom she leaned slightly, while the Lord of Irnbercourt
himself stood beside her on the other hand ; and, with his stately head
somewhat bent, seemed, with all due reverence, to give her counsel
upon some private matter of importance. Another figure was re-
tiring from an opposite door as Albert Maurice entered ; but who it
was, the faint glance he caught did not permit the young burgher to
distinguish.

He advanced towards the spot where the princess stood, with the
usual marks of ceremony and reverence ; and, as he came near and
bent one knee, she held out her hand for him to kiss, with a gentle
smile, but with the air and demeanour of a princess.

" I congratulate you, Master Albert Maurice," she said, as soon as
he had risen, " on the clear and satisfactory manner in which you
have been enabled to establish your innocence ; for I fear-, it some-
times happens that persons accused are not able to bring forward
sufficient evidence to exculpate them before their princes, who, judg-
ing according to their best conscience, are often charged with cruelty
or partiality, more from the defect of the testimony offered to them,
than from any desire of doing aught but justice. I therefore congra-
tulate you most sincerely on your having had the means of establish-
ing your innocence beyond all doubt: and I am deeply gratified
myself, that you have been able to remove every doubt from my own
mind, as well as to satisfy my council."

" Had every person accused, so gracious and impartial a judge,
madam," replied the young citizen, " it were happy for the world ,
and, indeed, it was my full confidence in your own justice, and in
that of the noble lords of the council, which made me appeal so boldly
to your own decision."

" For so doing I thank you, sir," replied the princess ; " and I have
bow sent for you to say so, as well as to speak with you on one part

104 MAR* or BORCUSDT.

of your defence, which somewhat touched upon the honour of my
father's justice. Although I marked it at the time, I did not choose to
notice it before the many ; and now, by the advice of one of my best
and most faithful friends, I seek this private mode, certainly not of
chiding you for what has passed your lips, but of calling to your re-
membrance things which might have made your words less bitter."

The princess paused for a moment, colouring slightly, with some
degree of agitation, from the task thus imposed upon her, and from the
long time which it required her to speak upon subjects of some political
importance. She showed, indeed, no awkward incompetence, no
want of mental power ; but her blush and her slight embarrassment
were those of her youth, of her sex, and of a delicate and feeling mind.
While she paused, Albert Maurice merely bowed his head, without
reply ; and in a moment after, she proceeded.

" I am very young, sir," she said, " and, as a woman, am of course
cut off from mingling greatly with mankind. Nevertheless, as it has
so unfortunately fallen out, that the rule of these territories should
seem to be at some time destined for a female hand, and that hand
mine, I have not, of course, neglected the study of the laws and insti-
tutions, nor of the history of the dominions that may one day become
my own. In speaking of the city of Namur, you named rights vio-
lated, and privileges infringed, and, perhaps, alluded to some other
privileges of which other towns have been deprived. Most of the
events that you probably referred to, took place before the period to
which my own remembrance extends ; but, if the historians of the
land say true, no rights were ever, in any instance, arbitrarily wrenched
away from the people. In all cases, if my memory serve me right, the
loss of privileges was inflicted on the citizens as a punishment for
some crime, for some unprovoked revolt, from some attempt to snatch
the power from what they considered a weak and embarrassed hand.
Such being the case, justice, both in the abstract sense of awarding
punishment for evil, or in the moral policy of deterring others from
ririme, by the example of retributive infliction, required that the cities
which so acted should suffer a certain penalty as the consequence.
That penalty has always been the loss of some of their privileges ;
tvhich punishment has always been received by them as most merci-
ful, at the time when detected treason or suppressed revolt brought
upon them the wrath, and placed them at the mercy of a powerful
prince. Nor, let me say, can the hope to regain the privileges they
have lost, except by a calm and tranquil obedience, or some service
rendered, which may merit reward and confidence."

She waited for a reply ; but Albert Maurice remained silent. In
truth, he felt no small difficulty in so shaping his answer as not to
swerve from the truths indelibly written in his own heart, and yet
not to hurt the feelings, or lower himself in the esteem, of one whose
good opinion had become, he knew not why, of more consequence in
his eyes than mortal opinion had ever been before. He felt, too, that
the princess spoke according to the ideas and sentiments of her rank
and of her times ; while he himser ^jire within his bosom the feel-
ings of his own class, and the thoughts of times long gone, when
liberty was eloquent and powerful.

Although between such different principles there was a gulf as deep
as the abyss, still love might span it with a bridge, which, like that

MAHY OP BURGUNDT. 105

that leads to the Moslem paradise, is finer than a famished spider's
thread. But it were wrong to say he loved. Oh, no! he would have
shrunk from so idle a thought, had it come upon him in a tangible
shape. Yet there was something growing upon his heart which
softened it towards Mary of Burgundy ; which rendered it unwilling
to hurt her feelings ; which made it timid of offending her, though
the eye of the proudest sovereign that ever trod the earth would not
have caused it to quail for an instant.

The Lord of Imbercourt saw more clearly into the character of the
man, and knew more of the circumstances of the times, than the prin-
cess he had stayed to counsel ; and perceiving that the young citizen
was not about to reply, he spoke a few words in addition to that
which Mary had advanced, taking a wider ground than she had as-
sumed, and examining the subject more as a philosopher than either
a feudal noble, or the counsellor of an absolute prince. He spoke
of the necessity of order and good government, for the peace and hap-
piness of the people themselves ; he pointed out that tranquillity and
general confidence were absolutely necessary to industry, both com-
mercial and productive ; and he showed, with the voice of years and
experience, that turbulence and discontent were ruinous to any na-
tion, but, in a tenfold degree ruinous to a commercial people.

" Believe me, Master Albert Maurice," he added, " that just in the
same proportion that the man is to be blest, who teaches a people to
improve their moral state, to cultivate their intellects, and to extend
their knowledge and resources, in the same degree is he to be hated
and despised, who teaches them to be discontented with their condi-
tion."

He paused ; and Albert Maurice replied with more calm firmness
than he could, perhaps, have shown, had he answered the princess,
" I will not, my lord, attempt to use towards you that ordinary fal-
lacy which, in fact, arises only in the imperfection of language,
namely, that people must be rendered discontented with their condi-
tion, in order to gain the desire of changing it. I know and feel, that,
though we have not a word exactly to express it, there is an im-
mense difference between discontent with our present state, and the
calm desire of improving it. But still, it may be doubted, whether
the mind of man, especially in multitudes, does not require some
more universal and potent stimulus to carry it generally forward to
great improvements, than the slow progress of increasing knowledge
can afford."

"No, no, indeed," replied Imbercourt ; "the potent stimulus is like
too much wine, which only maddens for the time, and leaves every
nerve more feeble and relaxed thereafter. No, no : administer good
plain and wholesome food to the social as well as to the human body;
and, growing in strength, and performing all its functions correctly,
it will gain, by the same calm and easy degrees, the desire and the
power of obtaining that which is best adapted to its state."

Albert Maurice felt that there was truth in what the Lord of
Imbercourt advanced; but, nevertheless, between them there still
existed a thousand differences of opinion, which would have required
an infinite change of circumstances to have removed. The differences
of their age, of their station, cf their education, and of their habits,
were all as much opposed to a coincidence of thought, as the differ-

106 SIAKY OF BURGCNDY.

ence of their natural characters itself; and the only point of resem-
blance between the young citizen and the high-born noble — namely,
the fine aspirations and elegant feelings which raised the former above
the generality of his class — naturally tended to make him detesf
those laws of society which held him down in a rank below that fos
which he was fitted, and look with disgust upon those who maintained
them as a barrier against him. At the same time he was conscious
that in his bosom there might be some feelings not entirely patriotic,
or, at least, he felt afraid that it was so; and, perceiving, also, that
the arguments which were addressed to him were far more liberal
and plausible than those usually held by the class to which the Lord
of Imbercourt belonged, he did not choose to enter into a farther dis-
cussion, which might either shake his own determinations, or expose
the views on which he acted to those who would take means to foil
his designs.

"I am, of course, incompetent, my lord," he replied, "to argue
with an experienced statesman like yourself, on subjects which you
must have had a much greater opportunity of examining than I can
have had."

Imbercourt watched his cotmtenance during this brief reply ; and
he was too much versed in the ways of men to be deceived by its
apparent modesty. He saw, and saw clearly, that the high and
flashing spirit, the keen and acute mind, which the young burgher
had displayed at the examination before the council — and which,
indeed, had been reported long before to the ministers of the Duke of
Burgundy — was curbed and restrained on the present occasion; and
he easily divined some of the motives which created such reserve
He saw, too, that it would be necessary to make use of other induce-
ments than those of argument for the purpose of detaching the young
citizen from the factious party in Flanders, and of preventing him
from giving to their designs the consolidation, the direction, and the
Tigour which such a mind as his might bestow.

Neither had the slight shade of emotion which had passed over th»
countenance of Albert Maurice, when addressed by the princess
escaped his experienced eye ; and, though far too proud and aristo
cratic in his own nature ever to dream that a burgher of Ghent could
indulge in the very thought of love towards the heiress of the land,
he was sufficiently chivalrous in mind to believe, that a smile from
such fair lips, a word from so sweet a voice, might bend a man on
whom arguments would prove all useless. He turned, therefore, to
the princess, with a smile, saying — " Well, let us not reason of the
past; I think, madam, that you had something to say to this young
gentleman concerning the future; and, as it could come with full
effect from no lips but yours, I pray you communicate it to him
yourself."

"Most willingly will I do so," replied Mary of Burgundy; "and I
im sure that I shall not speak in vain. I have heard, and, indeed,
I know, Master Albert Maurice, that no man in the good city of
Ghent possesses so much influence as yourself with the merchants
and people of the good towns. My father being now absent, and
likely, I fear, to remain so for some time — as my dear and excellent
gtepdame, Margaret his duchess, has been called to join him at Dijon
— and the government of Flanders resting in my weak hands, I am

MARY OF BURGUNDY. l&l

anxious, most anxious, to preserve the country, and especially this
city of Ghent — which," she added, with a smile, " has not in all times
been famous for its orderly disposition — in peace and tranquillity
during my temporary government, which, I pray, God shorten. My
request to you, therefore, is, that you will use your best endeavour*
to still all irritation, to calm all disposition to tumult, and to maintain
in the people a spirit of order and quiet. May I trust that you will
do so?"

The blood rushed up to the temples of the young citizen with fearful
force; and the pain that he experienced for a few moments, till he
had determined upon his reply, would be difficult to describe. At
length he answered, though with some hesitation.

" Madam," he said, " I feel assured that, under your sway, however
long the government of Flanders may be delegated to you by your
father, no infraction of the people's rights, no blow at the privileges
of the good towns, will, or can take place. Under this conviction, I
will willingly promise what you demand, though, in truth, you attri-
bute to me much greater influence than I possess. At the same
time, madam, let me pray you to remember, that if — which God
forbid! evil ministers or tyrannical officers should, as sometimes
happens, wrong their master, by trampling on his subjects, I cannot,
and I will not, bind myself to support such things, or to oppose my
countrymen in seeking to right themselves."

" God forbid, indeed," exclaimed Mary, eagerly, " that you should
ever be put to such a trial ! Indeed, young gentleman, indeed," she
added, while her whole beautiful countenance glowed with enthusiasm,
" to merit and to win my people's love, to heal all feuds, to bind up
every wound, to wipe the eyes that weep, to raise up the oppressed,
to uphold and to promote the virtuous, and to guard the feeble and
defenceless, would be the first wish and thought of Mary of Burgundy,
were she queen of one half the world."

"Madam, I believe it! from my heart I believe it!" replied Albert
Maurice, catching the enthusiasm of her tone; "and may God bless"
and prosper you in the performance of so noble an intention!"

As he spoke, he felt that the presence of that fair being had becoms
more dangerous to his resolutions and purposes, perhaps even to his
peace, than he could have imagined possible ; and, afraid that at every
word he might promise more than circumstances might permit him
to perform, or bind himself so strictly, that his duty to his country
would be lost — he paused, and drew a step back, in order to take his
leave. The princess saw the movement, and bowed her head, to
signify that he was at liberty to depart. "Farewell, sir," she said;
" and do not forget the promise you have made."

The young citizen bowed, and retired ; and, while Mary remained
ia deep and anxious conversation with Imbercourt, he made his way
back to the ante-chamber of the audience- hall, which was now empty,
and thence into the court of the palace, where he was joined by his
uncle, Martin Fruse ; and found the Lord of Neufchatel in the act of
mounting his horse. The old nobleman paused for a moment, to read
the young citizen a long and stately lecture upon the impropriety of
leaving, as he had done, those who had accompanied him to the
council chamber, the moment that the examination was over. Tha
mind of Albert Maurice, however, and his heart, were busied about

109 MARY OF BCTRGUND7

far other things ; and the reproof of the old cavalier fell upon a some-
what dull and inattentive ear. He answered with some formal words
of apology, stating that he had been called away unexpectedly; and
then, with more energy and feeling, expressed his gratitude for the
kindness and services which the Lord of Neufchatel had rendered him.

"Well, well, no more of that!" cried the old lord; "never shall it
be said that I shrunk from the side of an oppressed man, be he noble
or not noble. Happy I am that you have so fully cleared yourself,
Master Albert Maurice; and whenever the good citizens of Ghent
require such aid and advice concerning matters of state and feudal
law, as I, from my old acquaintance with courts and camps, can give,
let them come freely to consult me, without fear or bashfulness ; that
is to say, while I am in the city; for, in ten days' time, I go to join
the camp, and once more, though the hand be feeble, and the head
be grey, to lay lance in rest for Burgundy. However, absent or
present, I shall always be happy to do wnat I can for the good city
of Ghent."

Albert Maurice bowed, and his uncle bowed low ; and, mounting
his horse, though with somewhat less alacrity than he had done in
his youthful days, the Lord of Neufchatel quitted the palace court,
and went nodding and smiling through the crowds assembled without.
Albert Maurice and his uncle then followed, passing the grim lanes
of soldiery that still occupied the interior of the court, with very
different feelings from those which they had experienced when they
entered its gates. The appearance of the young citizen, after his
exculpation, was instantly hailed by the multitudes without, as a
sort of popular triumph; and, amidst shouts of joy and congratula-
tion, he was conducted safely to his own dwelling.

CHAPTER XVI.

We must now carry the reader's mind forward to a day a little in
advance of that which we last noticed.

It was towards that period of the year which the French call the
shoi-t summer of St. Martin, from the fact of a few lingering bright
days of sunshiny sweetness breaking in upon the autumn, as a
memorial of the warmer season gone before. The sky was all full of
light, and the air full of heat; and the grand masses of high grey
clouds that occasionally floated over the sun were hailed gladly for
their soft cool shadow, although the day was the eleventh of Novem-
ber. Sweeping over the prospect, like the mighty but indistinct
image of great things and splendid purposes which sometimes cross
a powerful but imaginative mind, the shadows of the clouds moved
slow over hill and dale, field and forest. Now they cast large masses
of the woods into dark and gloomy shade, and left the rising grounds
around to stand forth in light and sparkling brightness, giving no bad
images of the dark memories that are in every heart, surrounded but
not effaced by after joys. Now they floated soft upon the mountains,
spreading an airy purple over each dell and cavity ; while, pouring
into the midst of the valley, the bright orb of day lighted up tower,
and town, and farm, and hamlet, and village spire, as hope lights up
the existence of man; even while the many clouds of fate hang their

MARY OP BUKGUNDT. lOfl

jieaviest shadows on the prospect around him. The harmonious hue
of autumn, too, was over all the scene. Eusset was the livery of
the year; and the brown fields, preparing for the sower, offered only
a deeper hue of the same colour, which, though varied through a
thousand shades, still painted every tree throughout the woods, and
sobered down even the grassy meadows with a tint far different from
that of spring. The sky, with the sunshine that it contained, was
all summer ; but the aspect of everything that it looked upon spoke
of autumn sinking fast into the arms of winter.

Such was the scene upon the banks of the little river Geete, when a
party whose bright dresses and active movements spoke sport and
gaiety, rode up the windings of the stream, not far from the place
where now stands the little hamlet of Sodoigne. No village, however,
stood there then ; and the banks of the Geete were bordered for some
miles with green meadows, not above two or three hundred yards in
breadth. These rich pastures were bounded to the eastward by the
forest of Hannut, which swept in irregular masses along the whole
course of the river, and were confined on the other hand by the low
but broken banks of the watercourse, sometimes, in the steepest parts,
lined with bushes, which dipped their very branches in the current,
but more often, where the turf and the stream were nearly upon a
level, fringed with long green flags and other water plants.

The party who cantered lightly along the meadows consisted of
eight persons, of whom three were females ; and each of the latter upon
her hand bore the glove and falcon, which showed the object of their
expedition. The first in state, in loveliness, and in grace, was Mary
of Burgundy, mounted on a beautiful white horse adorned with many
a goodly trapping, and which, though full of fire and life, she managed
with that easy and graceful horsemanship for which she was famous,
and which, unhappily, in after years, led to the fatal accident* that de-
prived the world of one of its brightest ornaments. By her side rode the
fair Alice of Imbercourt, her favourite friend and nearest attendant ;
while another young lady, of inferior rank, but still of noble birth,
followed a step behind, somewhat embarrassed by the high spirit of
her horse, which she managed well, but with less dexterity than the
other two. An elderly gentleman, of mild, complacent, and courtly
manners, followed the ladies as their principal attendant ; while, of the
other four, two habited in green, and furnished with long poles for
beating the bushes, together with lures, spare jesses, hoods, and bells,
at once showed themselves as official falconers ; and the two whj>
brought up the rear, though armed with a degree of precaution th*>
was very necessary in that day, appeared what they really were,
namely, simple grooms.

There is something in the excitement of quick riding totally ob-
noxious to both fear and sadness. It is scarcely possible to conceive a
person galloping easily along upon a spirited horse, without feeling
his confidence and hope renewed, in some degree, whatever may be the
circumstances of his situation. Thus, though in the heart of Mary of
Burgundy there was many a memory of painful feelings, of disap-
pointed hopes, and crushed affections; and, though across her mind,

* She died a few years after this period, in consequence of a fall occasioned by hsr
horse taking fright, while out falconing.

110 HART OF BURGUNDY

whenever she suffered it to rest upon the future, would come dark
and painful apprehensions, still the excitement of the sport, the beauty
of the day, and the glow of exercise, had given her a flow of high
spirits that she had not known for many a day. Her mirth, indeed,
was never overpowering, and, if it reached the bounds of cheerfulness,
it seldom went beyond.

Now, however, as they rode along by the banks of the stream, and as
the falconers beat the bushes to rouse the objects of their chase, she
jested in a tone of gentle gaiety with the fair girl who accompanied
her upon all those matters which, to the heart of woman, are the im-
portant things of life.

Alice of Imbercourt, on her part, maintained the conversation with
the same spirit, jested with the like good-humoured malice in reply
to the princess, and was never without an answer at her need, although
she did not for a moment forget, that however high her own rank.
Mary of Burgundy held a higher, nor ever failed to mingle with her
speech so much of reverence as to show that she had not forgotten the
distinction.

" Nay, nay, own, dear Alice," exclaimed the princess, in reply to
something that had passed before, " that day by day you have been
bringing me nearer and nearer to a certain castle in the wood ; and,
in truth, I think that you must have got the noble lord your father to
be a confederate in your plot."

" Good sooth, dear lady," replied Alice, " a happy thing were it for
us poor women if all fathers were so complacent : I know well where
one little heart would be in that case ;" and she looked up with an
arch smile in the face of the princess.

However strongly prudence may enjoin them to be silent themselves,
all women feel more or less pleasure when the conversation is brought
near the subject of their loves. Though Mary of Burgundy would not
say one word that she could help upon the feelings of her own heart,
even to so dear and faithful a friend as Alice of Imbercourt, yet she
felt no displeasure when the gay girl's tongue touched upon the sub-
ject of her affections, although clouds and darkness hung over the
prospect, and all hope of their gratification was but faint indeed. At
the same time she was, perhaps, a little fearful of the topic ever being
carried too far ; and, therefore, after a smile, in which melancholy
mingled, in some degree, with pleasure, she returned to her own jest
with her fair follower, without adding anything more to a subject on
which both, in happier circumstances, might have been well pleased
to speak more freely.

" Nay, nay, Alice," she exclaimed, " that was an artful turn, mj
iweet friend : but you shall not escape so readily. Tell me, did you
not put it in your father's head, to think what a fine thing it would
be for me to visit all the different towns in Flanders, and win the love
of the good burghers ? And did you not yourself lay out the very
plan of our journey from Ghent to Alost, and thence to Brussels, and
thence to Louvaine, and thence to Tirlemont? And have you not
kept me three full days at Tirlemont; and, at last, have you not
brought me up the fair river Geete, with our hawks upon our hands,
and nobody to watch us, till we are within a league or two of this
same castle of Hannut? Fie, Alice ! fie! it is a decided conspiracy !"

Alice laughed gaily, and replied : " Well, lady, if it can be proved,

MARY OF BURGUNDY. Ill

even by the best logic of your beautiful lips, that I do wish to see my
lover, I know no woman, who has one, that does not do so too, from
the farmer's milkmaid, with her pail upon her head, to the Princess of
Burgundy, on her white Spanish jennet."

Mary laughed and sighed. " You own it, then," she answered : "I
thought, when last night you were striving hard to persuade me to
visit the castle of Hannut, and have my future fate laid bare by the
dark and awful skill of this learned uncle of yours, that there was a
leaf in the book of fortune, or rather in the book of life, that you
would well like to read for yourself. But tell me, Alice," she added,
more seriously, " tell me something of this lover, to whom it seems
you are affianced. There appears some mystery about him, and you,
of course, must know more of him than any one else."

"Nay, quite the contrary, my dear lady and mistress," replied Alice
of Imbercourt ; " that shows how little you know of the sad race
called men. His being my lover is the very reason, of all others, why
I should know less of him than any other person."

" How so," demanded the princess, with a look of surprise.

"Why, simply because, from the moment he becomes my lover,"
replied Alice of Imbercourt, " he takes the very best possible care to
hide every evil quality in his nature and disposition, upon the full
and preconcerted plan of not letting me see any one of them till such
time as he is my husband. Then, out they come ! But that is not
all," she continued; "that would only hide a part of his character;
but, at the same time that he takes these precautions, I, on my part,
like every wise woman, make up my mind, on no account whatever to
see any little fault or failing that he may accidentally display, at
least, till such time as he is my husband. Then, of course, when
nothing more is to be gained or lost, I shall, beyond doubt, take as
much pains to find them out as another, and he will take as little
to hide them."

" That is a bad plan, Alice," replied the princess ; " that is a bad
plan. Find out the faults, if you can, in the lover, while your hand
is your own, and your will is free. See them not at all in your hus-
band, for blindness in such a case is woman's best policy. But you
mistake me, Alice; it was not of his mind I spoke, but of his situa-
tion ; for, when questioning my Lord of Imbercourt the other day, he
called him your uncle's nephew : now, none of our wise heralds ever
heard, it seems, of such a nephew."

A slight blush came up into the cheek of Alice as the princess
spoke ; but she replied frankly, " In truth, dear lady, I know nothing
on that score ; and upon such subjects I have ever thought that if
my father was satisfied, I had no reason to complain. All I know is,
that my cousin Hugh was brought up at the court of France ; has
fought in the civil wars of England, and under Galeas, Duke of
Milan ; has gained honour, and knighthood, and glory in the field ;
is gentle, and kind, and tender, and affectionate to me ; and is — " she
added, with a laugh and a blush at the praises which she was pour-
ing forth, and which she felt must betray the whole secret of her
heart, but which yet she could not or would not restrain — " and as
handsome a man, and as graceful a cavalier as ever entered hall or
mounted horse."

The princess smiled, and answered, " Well, well, if he be all that,

112 MARY OP BUBODNDT.

fair Alice, you are right, quite right, to ask no farther questions.
But how it is, good Bartholomew," she cried, turning to one of the
falconers, " how is it? Can you find no bird, in all the length of this
fair stream, for us to fly our hawks ?"

" So please your Grace," replied the man, "the air is so sultry that
the herons will hardly wade where there is no shelter ; but up beyond
those bushes, where the bank with its long sedges jets out into the
stream, I doubt not we may raise something yet."

The whole party accordingly rode on, and the judgment of the
experienced falconer was justified. Under the cool shadow of the
bank, one of the feathered fisherman had advanced some way, with
his long legs, and taking fright at the noise of the horses, he stretched '
forth his neck, gathered the air under his wings, and soared up at
about the distance of twenty or thirty yards from the approaching
party. The birds were instantly cast from the wrists of the ladies :
the heron, finding himself pursued, and apparently a crafty old fowl,
strove to beat to windward of the hawks, flying as rapidly as possible,
and yet keeping himself prepared for sudden defence. All the horses
were put to full speed, and in a moment the whole scene became one
of cry and confusion.

" Call the merlin up the wind! Call the merlin up the wind!" ex-
claimed the princess to the chief falconer, "See! see! he is tower-
ing ; he will miss his stoop !"

"So ho! woa ho!" cried the falconer, with a loud whistle: "he
will make his point yet, your Grace." But the heron, finding him-
self over-reached, made a dip, skimmed, and evaded the fall or stoop
of the falcon, which being a young bird, had endeavoured to strike it
at once, without being perfectly sure of its aim. The clamour and
the galloping now became more eager than ever; the bird making
directly for the wood, which it seemed likely to gain, notwithstanding
the efforts of its pursuers.

The meadow was the finest even ground that could be conceived
for such sport ; and the rein being freely given to each horse, the
whole party dashed on at full speed, without seeing, or caring for,
the massy clouds, that, sweeping together overhead, directly in the
face of a light and flickering wind, which was blowing from the north-
west, seemed to threaten a storm of some kind. The air, too, had
that sultry, oppressive weight which one often feels in the neighbour-
hood of a great forest ; and the horses — animals peculiarly suscepti-
ble to the sensations produced by an atmosphere overcharged with
electricity — seemed more eager and fiery than usual, and were soon
in a complete lather of foam.

The grey merlin which had been carried by Mary of Burgundy
retrieved the error of its first eagerness, and cutting between the heron
and the wood, kept it off for some time over the meadow and the
stream. The sport was thus in its highest point of interest, and the
horses in full career, when a sudden flash of lightning broke across
their path, and startled the whole party. Each horse involuntarily
recoiled. The princess and Alice of Imbercourt both kept their
seats, but the young lady who followed them, less skilful in her
management, was thrown violently to the ground ; while her horse,
wild with fright, dashed madly across the meadow, and plunged into
the stream. The falconers rode forward to whistle back their hawks,

MARY OF BURGUNDY. US

the service most important in their eyes, and one of the grooms
galloped after the frightened horse, in order to catch him ere he was
irrecoverably lost. But the rest of the party, instantly dismounting,
surrounded the poor girl who had met with the accident, whom they
found severely bruised, but not otherwise dangerously hurt. She
jpmplained bitterly, however, and, as if conscious that she was not a,
very interesting person otherwise, made the most of her misfortune to
engross attention.

The horse and the hawks were soon recovered, but it became now
the question, what was to be the course of their farther proceedings.
Large drops of rain were beginning to fall ; everything portended a
tremendous storm. The young lady who had fallen was too much
bruised to sit her horse with ease, and was, or appeared to be, too
much terrified to attempt it again. She, nevertheless, entreated the
princess and her companions to return as fast as possible towards
Tirlemont, leaving her where she was, with some one to protect her,
and to send a litter from the town to bring her home. But to this
the princess would by no means consent ; and it having been sug-
gested by one of the grooms, who knew the country well, that at the
distance of about half a mile in the wood there was a small chapel
dedicated to Notre-Dame du bon Secours, it was determined that the
whole party should take refuge there, and wait till the storm was
over, or till one of the attendants could procure litters for the ladies
from Tirlemont.

They accordingly proceeded on their way, under the guidance of the
groom, who alone knew the situation of the chapel ; and, skirting
round under the branches of the taller trees, endeavoured to obtain
some shelter as they went from the large drops of rain that, slow and
heavy, but far apart, seemed scarcely so much to fall as to be cast
with violence from the heaven to the earth. The clouds in the mean-
time, came slowly up, seeming to congregate over the forest from
every part of the sky ; but still it was some minutes before another
flash of lightning followed the first ; and the whole party had reached
the glade in the wood, which the groom assured them led direct to
the chapel, ere a second bright blaze broke across the gloomy air,
now shadowed in a kind of mid-day twilight by the dull, thick, leaden
masses of vapour above. The roar of the thunder followed a few
seconds after, and though it was evident that the storm had not
reached that degree of intensity which it was destined soon to
attain, the princess and her attendants did not neglect the warn-
ing, but hastened on as rapidly as possible, though the long grass,
cut merely by the tracks of wood-carts, and mingled thickly with
brambles and many sorts of weeds, impeded them greatly on their
way.

The road— if the glade or opening in the forest could so be called —
led on in that straight line of direct progression, which seems to
have been the original plan of road-making in most countries, pro-
ceeding with a proud disdain of obstacles and difficulties, into the
deepest valleys, and up the sides of the steepest hills, without one
effort by sweep or turn of any kind to avoid either. Thus, a few
minutes after the entrance of the princess's party into the forest, the
groom led the way over the side of a hill, down the steep descent of
which the trunks and arching boughs of the trees might be seen in

li-4 MARY OF BUBGUNDT.

long perspective, forming a regular alley, filled with a kind of dim
and misty light. At the end of the descent, however, the trees in
some degree broke away to the westward, and a steep hill rose sud-
denly before the travellers, which seemed as if, at its original forma-
mation, it had started up so abruptly as to have shaken a part of
the primeval forest from one of its sides. The other side was clothed
with tall trees to the very top. Over the shoulder of this hill— just
between the part which remained wooded, and the part which, sloping
down to the wood below, lay for the distance of several acres, either
entirely bare or merely covered with scattered brushwood — the road,
now assuming a sandy appearance, climbed straight up to a spot
where a small building with a conical roof was seen, standing out
from the dark wood, at the very top of the rise, and cutting sharp
upon a gleam of yellow light, which — dimmed by the falling shower
and fast closing up under the gathering clouds — still lingered in the
western sky.

The sight of the chapel, for so it was, gave fresh vigour to all
the party ; and Mary, with her followers, hastened up, and reached
the little shrine before another flash of lightning came. The chapel,
as usual with such buildings in that age, was constructed for the
mere purpose either of affording a temporary refuge to the benighted
or storm-stayed traveller, or of giving the pious and devout an oppor-
tunity of offering up their prayers or thanksgivings for a favourable
journey begun or completed, before an image of the Virgin, which filled
a niche in the far part of the edifice, protected from profaning hands
by a strong grating of iron. Whether the building itself was kept up
by casual donations, or by some small endowment, I do not know ;
but, at all events, the funds which supported it were too small for the
maintenance of an officiating priest; and hermits, who had occasion-
ally supplied the place in former ages, were now becoming "of the
rare birds of the earth," at least in the north of Europe. Thus the
chapel was totally vacant when the princess and her attendants
reached it ; and after murmuring a prayer at the shrine, while one of
the grooms was despatched to Tirlemont to give notice of Mary's
situation, the most courageous of the party who remained placed
themselves at the door of the little building, to watch the progress of
the approaching storm. As no one dreamed of profaning the sanctity
of the place, by making it a shelter for their horses, the grooms re-
ceived orders to tie them as strongly as possible under some of the
neighbouring trees ; and one was thus secured under a large elm,
which rose a few yards in advance of the chapel.

The commanding situation of the building, being pitched high up
on one of the most elevated hills in the wood, gave a wide view over
the country around, and afforded as beautiful a forest scene as the
mind of man can imagine. First, beyond the little sandy road, by
the side of which the chapel stood, extended, as I have before said,
several acres of broken mountain turf, sloping down with a consider-
able descent, and only interrupted here and there by a solitary tree,
»r a clump of bushes. Farther on again the eye wandered over many
miles of rich wood-land, clothed in all the splendid hues of autumn,
from the dark shadowy green of the pine to the bright golden yellow
of the sear aspen ; and where the ocean of forest ended, it caught thti
faint blue lines of a level country beyond.

MABY OF BURGUNDY. Ill

At the time I speak of, the sky was full of clouds, and the yellow
light which had struggled for a time to keep its place in the heavens
was now totally obscured. Large dull masses, as hard and defined
as if formed of some half-molten metal, rolled slowly along the
heavens, while across them floated far more rapidly some light fleecy
vapours of a whitish grey. From the far extreme of these clouds was
seen pouring in long straight lines the heavy shower, in some places
60 dark as totally to obscure everything beyond ; but in other spots
so thin and clear, that through the film of rain the eye caught the
prospect of a bright and sunshiny land, over which the clouds had
not yet extended themselves, not unlike the distant view of bright
scenes, which the unequalled hopes of early life still show us through
the tears and storms that at times beset our youth.

Each moment seemed to add something to the gloom of the sky ;
and scarcely were the party well housed, when another bright flash,
followed close by the roar of the thunder, passed rapidly over the
scene. The young lady who had fallen from her horse remained
close to the shrine ; but Mary of Burgundy, with her arm through
that of Alice of Imbercourt, still stood by the door, looking out upon
the prospect below them. The last flash of lightning, however, was
so near, that Mary's eye caught a small thin line of pale-coloured but
excessively vivid light, which seemed to dart like a fiery serpent be-
tween herself and the near tree, under which one of the horses was
tied.

" Alice I will look no more," she said ; " that flash was so near it
made me giddy ;" and withdrawing her arm, she retired into the
farther part of the chapel, and closed another small door which
opened from the right-hand side of the shrine into the forest behind
the building.

" You are not afraid, lady ?" said Alice, with a smile.

"No, certainly not afraid," replied Mary ; " for I know that He whose
weapon is the lightning, can strike as well in the palace or the tower
as in the open field ; but still it is useless to deny that there is some-
thing very awful in the sights and sounds of such a storm as this.
It seems as if one were in the presence, and heard the voice of the
Almighty."

" It is very grand," replied Alice of Imbercourt ; " but from my
youth I have been taught to look upon the storm as the finest spec-
tacle in nature ; and I would rather see the lightnings go tilting on
their fiery horses through the sky, and hear the roaring trumpets of
the thunder, than sit in the gayest pavilion that ever was stretched
with hands, to witness the brightest tournament that ever monarch
gave."

"You are poetical, Alice," cried the princess; "had old George
Chatelain been here, he would have made fine verses out of that
speech But, gracious Heaven, what a flash !"

As she spoke, there came, indeed, one of those tremendous flashes
of lightning that literally wrap the whole sky in flame, and, for the
brief space that it endured, lighted up every part of the inside of the
chapel with a splendour that was painful to the eye. At the same time
Alice, who still stood by the door, saw clearly the brighter waving
line of more intense fire which accompanied the broad flash dart from
ft spot nearly above their heads, and streaming downward with fierce

H

116 MARV OF BURGUNDY.

rapidity, strike one of the noblest trees on the edge of the wood below,
and tear it in one moment into atoms. She almost fancied she could
hear the rending groan of the stout oak, as it was shivered by the bolt
of heaven ; but nearly in the same instant the thunder followed, with
a sound as if a thousand rocks had been cast on the roof above their
heads; and another and another flash succeeded, before the report of
the first had died away. Then came a momentary pause — calm,
heavy, and silent, without a breath of air to stir the boughs, or to
relieve the sultry oppressiveness of the atmosphere, and without a
sound, save the fall of an occasional drop of rain.

The duration of this state of repose was but brief. The whole air
over the forest seemed surcharged with electricity ; and in a moment
after, with a loud whizzing noise, not unlike that of a musket ball
when it passes near the head, a large ball of fire rushed rapidly by
the chapel, in a line raised not more than a few yards above the
ground, and pitched upon the point of a rock at a little distance be-
low, where, after quivering and wavering for a moment, it broke into
a thousand fragments with a loud explosion, and vanished entirely.
The lightning and the thunder now succeeded each other so quickly,
that there seemed scarcely an instant's interval; and flash after flash,
roar after roar, continued without intermission, while every now and
then the sight of a tree rent to pieces in the distant prospect marked
the work of the lightning ; and the forest, and the rocks, and the hills
echoed and re-echoed the thunder, so that the sound became abso-
lutely incessant.

This had continued for about half an hour, and still Alice of Imber-
court had remained gazing out upon the scene, as well as the old
cavalier who accompanied them as their principal attendant, when
she suddenly exclaimed — " Good God ! how extraordinary ! There
seems to be a thick cloud gathering upon the edge of the wood, and
rolling up the hill towards us, sweeping the ground as it comes.
Holy Virgin! the lightning is flashing out of it like that from the
sky ! This is very terrible, indeed !"

" Come back, Alice, I beseech — I entreat !" exclaimed the princess :
"you may lose your sight or your life — you are tempting your fate."

But Alice did not seem to hear, for she still continued gazing out
from the door, although it was very evident that she now had also
taken alarm.

" Now, gracious God, be merciful unto us !" she exclaimed ; " for
this is the most terrible thing I ever saw! It is fast rolling up
the hill !"

" Come away lady, come away," cried the old cavalier, seizing her
by the arm, and leading her from the door ; " this is no sight to look
upon ;" and he drew her back towards the princess.

Alice once more turned her head to gaze ; and then, overcome with
what she saw, she cast herself down upon her knees, throwing her
arms around Mary, as if to protect her from the approaching destruc-
tion, exclaiming : " Oh, my princess ! ray princess! God protect thee
in this terrible hour!"

Mary's hand was very cold ; but, in the moment of great danger
she showed herself more calm and firm than her more daring com-
panion. " God will protect me," she said, in a soft low voice, " i/
such be His good pleasure ; and if not, His will be done."

MARY OF BURGUNDY. 117

As she spoke, a tremendous flash illuminated the whole of the
inside of the building, accompanied — not followed — by a crash, as if
two worlds had been hurled together in their course through space.

The eyes of every one in the chapel, it is probable, were closed at
that moment, for no one saw the small door by the side of the shrine
thrown open. But the first who looked up was Mary of Burgundy;
and a sudden cry, as she did so, called the attention of all the rest.
They instantly perceived the cause of the princess's surprise and
alarm ; for close beside her, in the midst of the chapel, stood a tall
powerful man, habited in the ordinary equipment of a man-at-arms
of that day, with the unusual circumstance, however, of every part of
his garb being of a peculiar shade of green ; which colour was also
predominant in the dress of half a dozen others who appeared at the
door by the shrine.

He gave no one time to express their surprise. " Good Heaven!"
he exclaimed, " do you not see the ground lightning coming up the
hill ! Fly, fly, for your lives ; it will be over the chapel in a moment.
Matthew catch up some of the women. Karl, take that one wh<?
has fainted. Let the men follow me as fast as possible, and we shalL
soon be out of the direction it is taking."

So saying, and without farther ceremony, he caught up Alice of
Imbercourt in his powerful arms. One of his companions lifted the
princess, and another raised the form of the young lady who had
fallen from her horse in the morning, and whose terror had now cast
her into a swoon, and, darting through the door by which they had
entered, the Vert Gallant of Hannut and his companions passed out
into that part of the forest which swept up to the back of the chapel.
Striking on as fast as possible towards the east, he took his way over
the other edge of the hill, in a direction opposite to that in which
Alice had been looking. The lightning flashed around them as they
went, the thunder roared loud at every step, and the rain, which had
ceased for a time, began again to drop, at first slowly, but after a few
minutes in a- more heavy and continuous shower, which, pattering
thick through the withered leaves of the wood, drenched the unfor-
tunate hawking party to the skin.

"Thank God for that!" exclaimed the Vert Gallant; "this rain
will drown yon accursed cloud, and we shall get rid of the ground
lightning."

These were the only words he spoke ; but, with rapid steps, he con-
tinued to bear on his fair burden for nearly a quarter of an hour, with
apparently the same ease, and in somewhat of the same position, that
a mother carries her child. Two of his sturdy companions followed
loaded in the same way; and so complete was the helpless terror of
the whole party who had accompanied Mary of Burgundy, that they
yielded themselves passively, and without a word of inquiry, to the
guidance of the green riders ; a body of men who acknowledged no
law, though a sort of generous and chivalric spirit amongst themselves
seemed, in some degree, to supply the place of the authority they had
cast off. It is true, indeed, that resistance or question would have
been in vain ; for the superior number of these free gentlemen of the
forest set- at defiance all opposition on the part of the princess's at-
tendants, and a sort of taciturnity seemed to reign amongst them
which did not at all encourage inquiry.

118 MARf OF BURGUNDT.

After proceeding steadily and rapidly for the space of time above
mentioned, over a rough and uneven road, sometimes down the side
of a wooded hill, where no unpractised foot could have kept its hold,
sometimes through deep ravines, which the torrents of rain that were
now falling had converted into water-courses, sometimes over the
trunks of trees that had been felled and shattered by the fire of
heaven, with the lightning flashing round their heads, and the thun-
der rolling above them, the Vert Gallant and his companions at length
reached a deep dell, from one side of which rose up a steep and rocky
bank, forming the base of the hill which they had just descended.

At the height of a few yards above the bottom of the valley, which
was itself marshy and filled with long flags and rushes, was the mouth
of a low-browed cave, to which the Vert Gallant immediately directed
his steps. He was obliged to bow his head to enter; but within, it
became more lofty ; and, though it did not run above nine or ten yards
into the mountain, the cavity afforded a complete shelter from the
storm and rain. The moment he had entered, the leader of the free
companions gently freed Alice from his arms; and then, in a low and
respectful voice, he said — " You will here, fair ladies, find some se-
curity. Keep as far as you can from the mouth of the cave, and
there is little fear of any danger. You sirs," he continued, in a
sterner tone, turning to the male followers of the princess, "should
have known better than to have placed this lady — who, if I judge
right, must be an object of no small solicitude to every subject of the
House of Burgundy — in the most exposed and dangerous situation of
the whole forest."

" Good-faith, Sir Green Knight," said the old gentleman who had
accompanied the princess, "we certainly did not know that it was so
dangerous, or we should neither have placed her in it, nor ourselves,
as you may well suppose. And now, sir," he continued, with a voice
the slight tremulousness of whose tone snowed that he was not with-
out some apprehensions of another kind ; " and now, sir, that you
have the lady in your power, be she princess or not, I trust that you
will deal fairly and honourable with her. Our purses are, of course,
at vour disposal, as well as our jewels, &c; but I give you notice
that—"

"Pshaw!" exclaimed the Vert Gallant, the beaver of whose helmet
was still down; "talk not to me of purses, sir, and jewels! Madam,"
he continued, turning to the princess, "suffer not, I beseech you, the
vain and vulgar fears of this old man to affect you for a moment: the
Vert Gallant of Hannut takes no purses from wandering travellers,
nor draws the sword against ladies, far less against the Princess of
Burgundy. Rest here in safety with your fair companions," he ad-
ded, turning slightly towards Alice of Imbercourt; "and we, who
have brought you hither, and have been your unseen attendants ever
since you were flying your hawks by the side of the river, will guard
you as well, or better, than if you were in your father's palace."

"I owe you many thanks, sir," replied Mary; "more, indeed, than I
can at present express ; for this dreadful storm has left my ideas
somewhat confused. However, I am satisfied that to your prompt
assistance I stand indebted for my life."

" Perhaps, madam, you do," replied the Vert Gallant ; " for I feel
convinced that, had that cloud reached the chapel before you quitted

MARY OI BURGUNDI. 119

it, the coronet of Burgundy would be now without an heiress. Think
me not ungenerous, madam," he added, " if I ask a boon in return.
It is this : that if, some day, I should need your voice to support a
petition with your father, or if you should, at the time, hold the reins
of government yourself, when I may have occasion to make a request
before the chair of Burgundy, you will give me your influenoe in the
one case, or grant my desire in the other."

There was something in the tone and in the manner of the speaker
at once so gentle and so lofty, that Mary of Burgundy could not but
think that his present adventurous life must be one more of necessity
than of choice ; and she doubted not, that the petition to which he
alluded must be for pardon for his past offences. She gazed at him
for a moment or two before she replied, as he stood towering above
the seven or eight strong men who accompanied him, and who had
now grouped themselves round the mouth of the cave, watching, as it
appeared, every word of their leader's mouth with a sort of reverential
attention.

"If it be wrong, sir," she replied, "for simple individuals to make
rash promises, it is still more so for princes. But where gratitude,
such as I owe you, is concerned, even prudence might seem ungene-
rous. I must qualify, however, in some degree, the promise you de-
sire, and say, that if your request, when it is made, prove nothing
contrary to my own honour or dignity, I will give it all my influence
with my father, should it depend upon him; or grant it myself,
should it depend upon me. Does that satisfy you?"

"Most fully, madam," replied the Vert Gallant; "and I return you
deep thanks for your kind assent."

" I doubt not," said Mary, " that what you have to ask will be far
less than a compensation for the service you have rendered me. How-
ever, accept this jewel," she added, taking a ring from her finger and
giving it to him, " as a testimony of the promise I have made ; and
with it let me add many thanks for your honourable courtesy."

The leader of the free companions received the ring with due ac-
knowledgments; and after a few words more upon the same subject,
he bowed low, as if to take his leave, and made a step towards the
mouth of the cavern.

" You are not, surely, going to expose yourself to such a storm as
this," exclaimed Alice of Imbercouit, with a degree of eagerness that
made her mistress smile, and declare afterwards, when, in a place of
security, they could look upon the dangers of the forest as a matter of
amusement — that Alice had certainly been smitten with the distinc-
tion which the Vert Gallant had shown her, in carrying her in his
own arms through the wood, although he knew that a princess was
present.

" The storm is abating, lady," replied the freebooter ; " and besides,
we fear no weather. I myself go to give notice to those who can re-
ceive you as you should be received, that such a noble party require
better shelter and entertainment than we poor adventurers can afford
you. My men, though they must keep out of sight, will be near
enough to yield you protection and assistance, on one blast of a horn.
Horns are strange magical things in this wood," he added ; " for
though all the hunters in the world might go blowing their mots,
from one end of the forest to the other, without seeing aught but boa*

120 MARY OF BURGUNDY.

or deer, I will soon show you that we can conjure up beasts of another
kind."

Sc saying, he approached the mouth of the cavern, and wound his
horn with along, shrill, peculiar blast; when, in a moment after, from
the opposite part of the wood, a man, bearing the appearance of s
mounted squire, trotted rapidly forth, leading a strong black charger,
which he at once brought up to the mouth of the cave. A few words
whispered by the Vert Gallant to the men who had accompanied him
hitherto, caused them instantly to quit the place where they had taken
refuge ; and dispersing themselves over the side of the hill, the whole
were in a few minutes lost to the sight amongst the trees and bushes.
Their leader, once more, bowed low to the <princess, sprang upon his
horse, dashed rapidly down the rough and uneven side of the hill,
plunged through the marsh that lined the bottom of the valley, and,
in a moment after, was seen followed by his squire, winding in and
out through the tall trees on the opposite slope, till the turn of the
hill hid him from view.

They were the eyes of Alice of Imbercourt which thus followed him
on his course ; for the princess had seated herself on a mass of rock
in the farther end of the cave ; and her other young attendant, stupi-
fied with all the terrors and dangers she had gone through, though
now recovered from her swoon, continued sitting in silence on the
ground, where the soldier who had carried her had set her down, and
still kept her hands clasped over her eyes, as if every moment would
show her some horrible sight.

The storm had, nevertheless, abated considerably already. The
rain, it is true, continued to pour down in torrents, and an occasional
flash of lightning still broke across the sky ; but it was dim, as if half
extinguished by the deluge through which it glared. The thunder
followed, too, at a longer interval ; and each succeeding flash was at a
greater and a greater lapse of time from the one that preceded it.

Thus about an hour and a half passed away, during which the dif-
ferent members of the falconing party amused themselves as they best
might ; the groom talking to the falconers about the gallant horses
they had tied at the top of the hill, lamenting the fright and drench
ing they must have been exposed to, and expressing some appreheni
sion that the good gentlemen in green, who had hurried them away
so fast from the chapel, might take advantage of their absence to
carry off their good horses, the worst of which, he declared, was worth
fifty golden crowns of Flanders at the lowest computation. The fal-
coners, on the other hand, who had taken care to bring away their
birds with them, busied themselves actively in providing for the
comfort of their hawks ; and each administered to the falcon under
his especial charge a small ball of choice medicaments, extracted from
a pouch that every one carried by his side, in order to guard the
stomachs of those noble fowls from any evil as a consequence of the
storm.

The old gentleman, who might be considered — what we should call
in the present day — the chaperon of the party, stood by the side of
the princess, and addressed to her, from time to time, with sweet
unmeaning smiles and courtly language, a variety of easy flowing
sentences, very pleasant and harmonious, but signifying nothing.
Alice, on her part, generally remained silent and thoughtful though

MARY OF BUJiGUNDT. 12l

ieemingly a littls agitated, and perhaps not displeased, at the proba-
bility of revisiting the castle of Hannut. Sometimes she would sit by
the side of the princess, and talk to her, with all the light gaiety of
her character ; but at others, she would fall into long pauses of deep
and silent thought ; or would stand at the mouth of the cave, and
watch the diminishing rain and the storm as it passed away. Every
minute it decreased in some degree ; and even the poor girl who had
fallen from her horse, and who was clearly the most timid of the
whole party, began to look up, and to venture an occasional word to
those around her.

At length, when the day was somewhat far advanced, a low whistle
was heard at a considerable distance, was taken up by some one
nearer, and then repeated from more than twenty places in the wood,
till at last it sounded close by the cave. All then relapsed into pro-
found silence ; but at the end of about ten minutes more, a distant
trampling sound was heard ; and, on looking forth from the mouth of
the cave, Alice perceived, winding up from the extreme of the valley,
a gay cavalcade, consisting of a couple of horse litters, escorted by
about twenty spearmen on horseback, bearing the colours of the Lord
of Hannut.

CHAPTER XVII.

The sight of the approaching party was very acceptable to every one
of the persons in the cave, who were not a little tired of their situa-
tion, after having waited for nearly two hours, watching the dying
away of a thunder-storm, which, even then, left no better prospect
than that the hard leaden clouds which had poured forth the light-
ning, would soften into the showery haze of an unsettled autumn
night.

The troop, however, seemed to approach but slowly; every now
and then pausing and looking round the valley, as if doubtful of the
exact place to which their steps should be directed. At length, Alice
took an impatient step out into the shower, and was followed by one
of the falconers, who soon attracted the notice of the horsemen by one
of the long and peculiar whoops practised in his vocation. The mo-
ment after, a young cavalier, habited in ths furs and embroideries
which designated a man of noble rank in the county of Flanders,
dashed forward from the rest ; and the next instant Hugh de Mortmar
was by the side of his fair Alice.

A few words of explanation sufficed. A strange horseman, he said,
whom the warder described as bearing the appearance of one of the
free companions who infested the country, had given notice at the
barbacan of the castle, that the Princess Mary and her train were
storm-stayed in that valley which in the forest bore the name of "The
Valley of the Marsh ;" and that, of course, he had instantly set out tc
render service and assistance.

The young gentleman, then, with deep respect, tendered his aid to
the princess. Mary and her attendants were soon placed in the lit-
ters, or mounted on the spare horses ; and, as it was too late to think
of returning to Tirlemont, the whole party wound onward towards the
castle of Hannut. At the earnest request of the chief groom, how-
ever, as the road by the chapel was not longer than that by which the

13S MARY OF BURGUNDY.

young noble had come, it was preferred in returning to the castle, In
order to relieve the horses which had been left tied in the neighbour-
hood ; and, choosing a longer but easier ascent than that which had
been trod so rapidly by the Vert Gallant some hours before, the
princess was soon once more on the spot from which she had been
carried in the thunder-storm.

The scene that she there beheld was not a little awful. Three of
the walls of the chapel, indeed, remained, but that was all ; and the
time-dried wood-work which had supported the tall conical roof, now
lay on what had once been the floor, still blackened and smouldering,
though the fire which had been kindled by the lightning was well nigh
extinguished by the subsequent rain. The chapel itself, however,
though it showed how terrible her own fate might have been, was not,
perhaps, the most fearful object that the spot presented. The tall,
majestic tree which had stood alone, a few yards in advance of the
building, was rent to the very ground; and, amidst the shivered
boughs and the yellow leaves with which they were covered, lay mo-
tionless the beautiful horse that had been tied there, with its strong
and energetic limbs, but a few hours before full of wild life and noble
fire, now cold and stiff; the wide expansive nostril, small and col-
lapsed, the clear eye, dim and leaden, and the proud head cast power-
less down the bank. There are few things show so substantially the
mighty and awful power of death as to see a noble horse killed by
some sudden accident. The moment before, it stands at the sublimest
point of animal existence — as if the living principle were yielded to it
in a greater share than to any other thing — and the next it is shape-
less carrion.

" Alas, the poor horse!" cried Mary, when her eyes fell upon the
gallant beast lying stretched out beneath the tree : " alas, the poor
horse!" But, running along the chain of association, her mind
speedily reverted to herself, and the fate she had so narrowly escaped;
and, closing her eyes, while the litter was borne on, she spent a few
moments in thankful prayer.

The other horses, which had been tied at a little distance to the
east of the chapel, appeared to have broken their bridles from fear,
and escaped. The trees under which they had been fastened remained
uninjured by the storm, but no trace could be discovered of the ani-
mals themselves.

After the lapse of a few minutes spent in the search, the cavalcade
moved on at a quicker pace ; and Mary of Burgundy soon observed,
with a smile, that Hugh de Mortmar, though often at the side of the
litter in which she herself was placed, offering all those formal atten-
tions which her rank and station required, was still more frequently
in the neighbourhood of the one which followed, and which contained
her fair attendant, Alice, alone. The young waiting-woman, who
shared the princess's conveyance, remarked the particular attentions
of the young lord also, and commented on it with some acerbity; but
her jealous anger was soon repressed by Mary's sweet smile ; and ere
long the whole cavalcade wound through the barbacan and the mani-
fold gates of the castle of Hannut.

The retainers of the lord of the mansion, drawn up in the court-
yards, received the heiress of Burgundy and Flanders with feudal
reverence j and the old lord himself waited bareheaded to hand her

MAKY OP BUKGONDT. 123

from the vehicle which had conveyed her thither. She was instantly
conducted to the apartments which Alice of Imbercourt had inhabited
during her stay; and a part of the wardrobe which the fair girl had
left behind, in the hope of a speedy return, now served to replace the
damp garments of the princess.

On returning from the chamber where she had made this change of
dress to the little sitting-room or bower — as it was called, in the castles
of the nobility of that time — the princess found that supper had been
laid out for her there, rather than in the hall; but at the same time
she perceived, by the solitary cover which graced the table, while the
Lord of Hannut and Hugh de Mortmar stood by to attend upon her,
that she was to be served with all the formal state and ceremony of a
sovereign princess.

" Nay, nay, my lord," she said, as she remarked the fact ; " I must
not suffer all this. While I am here I must have you consider me as
a wandering demoiselle, whom you have delivered from danger and
distress, and with whose rank or station you are unacquainted. All,
therefore, of noble blood, must sit and partake with me of my supper,
or I partake not myself."

The old Lord of Hannut, well knowing the formal ceremony main-
tained at the court of Burgundy, especially during the previous reign,
would fain have remonstrated ; but Mary cut him short, laying her
hand kindly and gently on the old man's arm, and saying, in a soft
and somewhat playful tone, " Must Mary of Burgundy command?
Well, then, be it so: we command you, my lord, to forget from this
moment that there is any one beneath your roof but a dear friend of
your sweet niece, Alice. Believe me," she added, more seriously,
" that I know no greater enjoyment than to cast aside the trammels
of state, and the cold weight of ceremony, and let my heart play free.
To me, it is like what you, my lords, must have felt in unbuckling
your armour after a long day's tournament."

Although the politeness of that day was of the stately and rigid
kind, which might have required the Lord of Hannut to press further
the ceremonious respect he had been about to show, he had too much
of the truer politeness of the heart not to yield at once to the princess's
wishes thus expressed. More covers were instantly laid upon the
table ; and, assuming easily the station of host, in place of that of
feudal subject, he treated his fair guests during supper with easy
lourtesy, mingled, indeed, but not loaded, with respect.

The time passed pleasantly, and many a varied strain of conversa-
tion, regarding all those matters which were interesting in that age,
whiled the uuinutes tnaeiunhl; away. The common subjects, indeed,
connected with the state of society as it then existed, arms, and love,
and the hunting-field, the news of the day, and the gossip of the
town, were the first things spoken of, as matters on which all could
converse. But speedily, as each tried the other's powers, and found
that there were less ordinary topics on which they might communi-
cate, the conversation turned to arts, to letters, and to the human
mind. Hugh de Mortmar, whose travels through many lands had
made him acquainted with things but scantily known even at the
luxurious court of Burgundy, told of the efforts that Italy was then
beginning to make to cast off the darkness which had so long hung
aver her states, described many a beautiful object which he bad seen in

124 MARY OP BCKGUNDT.

the land of ancient arts, and rose into enthusiasm as he spoke of Medici,
and of all that his magnificent efforts were likely to restore to Italy.

The newly-discovered art of printing, too, was mentioned and dis-
cussed, and surmises of what it might one time accomplish were
ventured on that occasion which would astonish those who see them
only partly realized even in the present day. But it was, perhaps, one
of the weaknesses of that age to attribute great and mysterious powers
to everything that was new and unusual ; and, though clear and philo-
sophical reasoning guided the Lord of Hannut to some of his anticipa-
tions in regard to printing, a vague degree of superstition, or perhaps
it might better be called mysticism, added not a little. It was an easy
transition from considering what the mind could do, to consider what
the mind of man even then did ; and Mary, half fearful of offending,
yet with her curiosity not a little excited, led the conversation to those
dark and mysterious arts, in the study of which the Lord of Hannut
was supposed to pass the greater part of his time. Upon that branch
of what were then called the dark sciences, which referred to the com-
munication of mortal beings with the spiritual world, the old lord was
profoundly silent ; but in the accuracy and reality of the art by
which man was then supposed to read his future fate, from the bright
and mysterious orbs of heaven, he expressed his most deep and sincere
conviction.

" Many a long and weary night, many a deep and anxious thought,
have I given," he said, "to the subject; and, after the study of nearly
forty years — after searching philosophy and Scripture — after con-
sulting the learned and the wise — I cannot doubt, madam, that the
science which the Chaldee shepherds studied and acquired in the
plains of the east has come down to us, though not in the degree of
clear accuracy to which they had brought it. Our calculations are
sometimes slightly wrong ; a day — a month— a year sometimes, too
early or too late ; but, on examination, I have always found that the
error was in the imperfection of my own knowledge, not in a deceitful
prognostication of the stars."

The mind of woman is naturally more bent toward superstition than
that of man. Mary of Burgundy had heard her father rave against
astrologers as quacks and impostors, especially whenever their pre-
dictions did not accord with his own designs; but she had heard him
also express, on many an occasion, a desire for their counsel ; and even
the abuse which he showered upon them, had shown her how much
importance he attached to their predictions. Her belief, indeed, in
their skill was not untinged with doubt — more, indeed, than was usual
in that age — but nevertheless it was still belief; and the calm and
serious assurances of a man so famous for his wisdom and his skill as
the Lord of Hannut, raised that belief, for the time, to certainty.

" I wish," she replied with a smile, in answer to what he had last
said, " I wish that I had here noted down the exact day, and hour, and
minute of my birth, that I might ask you, my lord, to give me som6
insight into my future fate."

" Were such really your wishes, lady," answered the old nobleman,
" your desire might soon be gratified. Too much interest have I ever
felt in the house of Burgundy, not to obtain every particle of informa-
tion necessary to discover exactly, as far as human science can reach,
the destinies and fate of each child of that race."

MARX OF BURGUNDY. 126

" Indeed !" exclaimed Mary ; " and can you, then, calculate for me,
with any degree of accuracy, the lot that is likely to befall me in life ?"
and her eyes, as she spoke, turned with a glance of inquiring interest
towards Alice of Imbercourt, as if for confirmation of her belief in the
old lord's skill.

"I can do more, lady," said the Lord of Hannut: "I can show you
a page where the whole is already written. While you were yet in
the cradle, the interest which every one takes in those who are destined
to rule nations, led me to draw the scheme of your nativity, and to
learn everything concerning your part in the future, which human
science could discover. At the same time, the famous Anthony of
Palermo separately undertook the same task ; and, after mature de-
liberation, though at the distance of many hundred miles, each sent to
the other a transcript of the result. The difference between our calcu-
lations was so slight as scarcely to merit the name ; and I can now
place before your eyes the two combined. I pledge my word to you,
that more than eighteen years have elapsed since those calculations
were made ; and from the past, which you cannot doubt, you shall
leam to judge of the future. Do you desire to see it?"

Mary turned somewhat pale, and paused ere she replied; but at
length she answered, " I do ; and thank you, sir."

" The book in which that eventful page is written," said the Lord of
Hannut, " must never leave the chamber where it has been so long
preserved ; and I can but suffer one person to accompany you to its
perusal. Choose, then, lady! who shall it be?"

" Alice," said the princess, " will you go with me ?"

" "Willingly, willingly," replied the lively girl, " if my uncle promises
beforehand to call up no spirits to terrify us out of our senses."

" Let me beseech you not to go, madam/' exclaimed the old cavalier
who had accompanied them thither : " I never yet did know any one
who attempted to pry into the hidden secrets of fate, who did not bit-
terly repent it."

" Madam," said the Lord of Hannut, " follow, I entreat, your own
judgment alone. I urge you not to read nor to forbear ; yet, as far as
my memory serves me, you may read without much apprehension;
for though you may have many a painful scene yet to go through —
as who in life has not ? — still there will be bright days and many,
before the end."

" I will go, my lord," replied Mary. " Come, Alice, lend me your
arm. My lord, I will follow you."

"Ho, without, there! a light! a light!" exclaimed the Lord of
Hannut. " Pause yet a moment, lady. The sun is down, and the dim
and narrow passages of this building are not to be trod by a stranger
without more light than yon twilight sky will now afford. Bear a
torch to the end of the gallery, Roger," he added, speaking to a tall old
man, who appeared at his summons. " Now, madam, permit me to
lead you on."

Thus speaking, he took the hand of the princess reverently in hia
own, and led her from the chamber, followed by Alice of Imbercourt.
The next moment, Mary found herself in a long gallery, pierced by
many windows turned to the westward, through which might be seen
the fiery streaks left by the setting suu upon the verge of the stormy
sky. Manifold doors opened opposite to these windows, and between

136 MART OF BUBGUNDT.

the apertures the effigies of many a warrior frowned in steel, while the
red glare of the sunset flashed upon the polished armour, as each suit
stood supported by its wooden figure, giving to all the prominent
points a bloody hue, akin to the associations that the sight of those
implements of war called up. At the end of this long corridor was a wide
archway, at which, ere Mary had paced half the length of the gallery,
a figure took its place, bearing a lighted torch ; and though the whole
arrangement of the building was, in that age, more common, and con-
sequently appeared less gloomy, than it would seem at present, still
there was an aspect of solemn grandeur about it, that raised, and yet
saddened, the feelings of Mary of Burgundy, as she advanced in the
firm belief that she was about to see the scheme of her future life laid
open before her eyes.

Passing through the archway, with the torch-bearer preceding
them, the old lord and his two fair companions wound round the
greater part of the building, in order to reach the apartment in which
he pursued his studies, without passing through the common hall ;
and as they swept along the dark and narrow passages, with the
torch-light flashing on the rude and mouldered stone, the sense of
awe and expectation increased in the bosom of the princess al-
most to the height of pain. Alice, too, felt it, and was profoundly
silent ; and when at length they entered the chamber, in which the
lonely hours of a long life had been spent in solitary and mysterious
study, she gazed around her with a glance of curiosity and appre-
hension, which clearly showed that she herself had never set her foot
within its walls before. The silver lamp hung lighted from the roof;
and the attendant with his torch drew back to let them pass, care-
fully avoiding, however, to set his foot across the threshold.

Mary's heart beat quick ; and she now began to ask herself whe-
ther she had any right to unveil that awful future over which the
Almighty has cast so profound a shadow ? What was she about to
do ? To learn her fate, without the possibility of changing it ; to ac-
quire a knowledge of each event that was to happen, without the
power of avoiding or ruling it as it arose ; to mark every danger
while yet it lay in the womb of the future ; to foreknow every pang
while yet it was far distant ; to sip the cup of agony and fear, drop
by drop, long before fate compelled her to the draught ; and to make
each day miserable with the certainty of the morrow's sorrow.

While such thoughts passed through her mind, the old noble took
down one of the large volumes from the cabinet, and unfastening the
golden clasps with which it was bound, he laid it on the desk beneath
the lamp. " Madam," he said, " you wished to know the fate of your
future years ; it is now before you. Event by event I have marked
the current of the past, and I have found no error yet in what is there
written. Eead, then, if you will, and with full confidence ; for as
sure as that we all live, and that we all must die, every turn of your
coming existence is there, written down."

Mary took a step or two towards the book, laid her fair hand upon
the yellow leaves, then paused, and gazed upwards for a moment.
" No !" she exclaimed at length, " no, it is wiser, it is better as it is !
Most merciful was the decree of the Most High, that veiled the fu-
ture in uncertainty. Forgive me, God, that I have sought to pry be-
yond the limits that thou thyself hast set ! No, no ! I will not readl"

MART OFBUHGUNDT. 127

So saying, she drew hastily back, as if afraid of her own determina-
tion, cast open the door, and quitted the apartment.

The Lord of Hannut followed, in some surprise. " Madam," he
said, as he offered his hand to guide the princess through the pas-
sages, which the want of the torch now rendered totally dark, " I
will not say you have done wrong ; but you have, I own, surprised
me."

" My lord," replied the princess, " I feel that I have done right, and
have not suffered curiosity to triumph over reason. At least," she
added, with a smile, " you can say there is one woman in the world,
who, when the book of destiny was laid open before her, refused to
read !"

" It is, indeed, a wonder which may well be noted down," replied
the old nobleman ; " but, I believe, we have left another behind who
may not have the same prudence, Alice." He added aloud, " Alice !
beware ! Close the door, fair niece," he added, as the young lady fol-
lowed ; and having seen that it was fastened, he led the waybackto
the apartments which the princess was to occupy for the night.

The party they now rejoined were, as may be naturally supposed,
full of curiosity, which, however much restrained by respect, was suf-
ficiently apparent ; and Mary, whose spirits had risen since her de-
termination had been formed, told them at once, with gay good
humour, that she had been afraid to read ; " and therefore," she said,
I can tell you nothing of the future ; for, thank God ! I know no-
thing."

" I am happy then, madam," said Hugh de Mortmar, " that I can
tell you something of the present, which may make up for the disap-
pointment ; and what I can tell you is good. A messenger has ar-
rived during your brief absence, bringing news from Lorraine. My
lord your father is, as you doubtless know, in the field, and notwith-
standing the checks of Granson and Morat, has an army in better
condition than ever. Of all this you are aware : but now you will be
glad to hear that Eegnier of Lorraine, and all his Switzers, have fled
before the duke, across the Moselle ; that Dieulewart, Pont a Mou-
chon, and Pont, have surrendered to Burgundy ; and that the gene-
ral of the enemy has left his army, and retired to Germany."

Such tidings in regard to the present banished the thoughts of the
future, which the preceding events had called up ; and the messen-
ger, being summoned to the presence of the princess, repeated the
joyful news he had brought, in a more circumstantial manner ; and
added, the still more important information, in Mary's eyes, that her
father was in good health, and had totally shaken off the lethargy of
grief into which the defeat at Morat had thrown him for many weeks.

Thus passed the evening of the princess's stay in the castle of
Hannut ; and early the next morning, escorted by Hugh de Mortmar
and a large body of armed retainers, as well as a party of her own
attendants, who had arrived from Tirlemont, she passed through the
forest, and proceeded on the visitation which she was making to
various cities in the county of Flanders.

In each and all she was received with loud and joyful acclamations ;
for as both Philip of Commines and good John Molinet observed of
their countrymen, the Flemings, they always adored the heirs of the
county till they were invested with real authority : but from the mo-

128 MART OF BURGUNDY.

ment they succeeded to the sovereignty, they became objects ot as
much detestation and abuse, as they before were of love and applause
Thus, as she progressed through the land, Mary fondly fancied that
the Flemings had been a people greatly traduced, and believed that
their hearts and best wishes would surely follow a mild and just
government. That such, and under all circumstances and in every
time, should be the character of her own sway, she firmly resolved ;
and she returned to Ghent, convinced that peace, good will, and
union of purpose, would ever reign between her and the honest com-
mons of Flanders.

CHAPTER XVin.

We must make our narrative of the events which took place in Ghent,
precede the arrival of the princess in that city by a few days, as her
arrival did not take place till the evening of the 10th of January,
1477 ; and it may be necessary to mark particularly some circum-
stances which occurred on the 8th of that month : premising, how-
ever, that the local government had been left in the hands of the Lord
of Imbercourt during her absence.

The scene to which we wish to introduce the reader, is a small,
dark chamber, in one of the largest mercantile houses in Ghent, but
far removed from the warehouse or the shop, and fitted up with
* degree of luxury and elegance only known in Europe, at that time,
amongst the great Flemish or Venetian merchants. The walls were
hung with rich tapestry ; carpets of the same fabric covered the floor.
Silver lamps and small round mirrors, then one of the most costly
articles of furniture, hung around ; and in short, the whole interior
of the room presented an aspect of wealth and comfort not to be ex-
ceeded by anything of modern days.

At the time I speak of, however, various circumstances combined
to show that the apartment was the abode of sorrow. Only one of the
lamps was lighted. The cloak and bonnet of a citizen of the time
were cast recklessly on the ground, near the door. A small dagger
lay upon the table ; and, in a seat before it, with his eyes buried in
his hands, and his body shaken with convulsive sobs, sat the little
druggist, Ganay, displaying that sort of dejected disarray of dress,
and careless fall of the limbs, which denotes so strongly that despair
has mastered the citadel of hope in the human heart.

From time to time, the sighs and groans which struggled from his
bosom gave way to momentary exclamations : sometimes loud and
fierce, sometimes muttered and low. " He was my son," he would
exclaim, " ay, notwithstanding all, he was my son ! He had robbed
me, it is true — taken my gold — resisted my authority — scoffed at my
rebuke — but still my blood poured through his veins : and to die such
a death — by the common hangman! like a dog! to hang over the gate
of the city, for the ravens to eat him, like the carrion of a horse!"
and once more, he gave way to tears and groans.

Then again he would exclaim — "The fiends! the incarnate fiends !
to slaughter my poor boy like a wolf: to refuse prayers, entreaties,
gold! Can they be fathers? Out upon them, cold-hearted tigers! he
has done no more than many a man has done. What though the
woman was wronged? what though her brother was slain in the

MARY OP BUBCUNDr. J29

affray? Do not these proud nobles do worse every day? Besides,
she should have had gold, oceans of gold ; but now I will have revenge
— deep, bitter, insatiable revenge!" and he shook his thin bony hand
in the air, while the fire of hell itself seemed gleaming from the bottom
of his small dark eyes.

At that moment there was a noise heard without ; and the voices
of two persons in some degree of contention, as if the one strove to
prevent the other from entering, sounded along the passage.

" Out of my way!" cried the one, in a harsh, sharp, grating tone;
" I tell you, boy, I must enter : I have business with your master. I
enter everywhere, at all times and seasons."

"But don't you know, sir, what has happened?" cried the other
voice ; " my master is in great affliction, and bade us deny sight of
him to every one."

" I know all about it, much better than you do, lad," replied the
first. " Out of my way, I say, or I will knock your head against the
wall."

The little druggist had started up at the first sounds : and, after
gazing upon the door for a moment, with the fierce intensity of the
tiger watching his victim before the spring, he seemed to recognise
the voice of the speaker who sought to force his way in ; and, snatching
the dagger hastily from the table, he placed it in his bosom, wiped
away the marks of tears from his eyes, and then cast himself back
again in his seat.

Almost at the same moment the door opened, and Maillotin du Bac,
the Prevot of the Duke of Burgundy, appeared, together with a lad,
who seemed to be a serving boy of the druggist's. The Prevot waa
habited in a different manner, on the present occasion, from that in
which we have before depicted him. He was no longer either clad in
arms, as he had appeared at the castle of Hannut, nor wrapped in
bandages, as he had shown himself before the council. His dress was
now a rich and costly suit of fine cloth, splendidly embroidered, to-
gether with a bonnet of the same colour, in which, as was then very
customary amongst the nobles, he wore the brush of a fox, slightly
drooping on one side, as it may sometimes be seen in the cap of the
successful hunter of the present day. Over his more gaudy apparel,
however, he had cast a long black cloak, bordered with sable, which
he probably used, in general, on occasions of mourning.

"This person will have entrance," said the youth who accom-
panied him, addressing the little druggist, " notwithstanding all I can
do to prevent him." '

" Hinder him not," replied Ganay ; " but shut the door, and get
thee gone."

The boy readily obeyed the order he received ; and Maillotin du
Bac, advancing into the room, saluted the druggist with some degree
of formal courtesy, not unmixed with that solemnity of aspect where'
with men do reverence to griefs they personally feel but little.

" Health and better cheer to you, Master Ganay !" he said, taking
a seat close by the druggist; "health and better cheer to you! This
is a sad business, indeed, and I wish to talk over it with you."

The druggist eyed him for a ir.oment or two in bitter silence, while
his heavy eyebrows were drawn together till they met, and almost
concealed the small piercing eyes beneath.

1 30 MARY OF BURGUNDY.

" You are kind, Sir Prevot," he said, in a sneering tone ; " you are
mighty kind ; but let me tell you, that were it not that I hear there
has been something strange — I know not whether to say friendly —
in the conduct that you have pursued through all that is gone, I would
soon show you how a man deserves to be treated, who forces himself
upon a father on the day of his son's death."

" Why now, Master Ganay, I can bear with you a great deal," re-
plied the Prevot ; " and therefore say what you will, I shall not be
offended : but you very well know, that I would not myself, nor would
I suffer any of my men to have anything to do with this bad business,
either in regard to the arrest or the execution."

" Murder! call it murder!" cried the druggist, grasping the arm of
Ids chair, with a convulsive motion of his hand.

" Well, murder be it," replied the Prevot ; " though they say they
did it all by law. But, however, I did not choose to have anything
to do with it: not alone from considering the right or wrong of
the matter, but because I had a regard for yourself and that there
are two or three little feelings in common between us."

" Ay, indeed!" cried the druggist; "and what may they be?"

Maillotin du Bac laid his large, strong, bony hand upon the arm of
the druggist, and fixing his keen hawk-like eyes upon his face, re-
plied— " First and foremost, hatred to Imbercourt."

"Ha!" exclaimed the druggist, almost starting from his seat;
"how knew you that I hated him? — at least, before this last dark
deed ?"

" Because," replied Maillotin du Bac, " some ten years ago, when
tlie people of Ghent were pressing boldly round the duke, and shout-
ing for their privileges, I saw this Imbercourt give a contemptuous
buffet to a man who had caught him by the robe. Do you remember
such a thing? The man was a rich druggist of Ghent; and in his
first fury he got a knife half way out of his bosom — not unlike that
which lies in your own, Master Ganay; but a moment after he put it
up again, as he saw the duke's horsemen riding down; and, with a
smooth face and pleasant smile, said to the man who had struck him,
'We shall meet again, fair sir.'"

"Ay, and we have met again: but how? but how?" cried the
druggist, grasping the arm of the Prevot tight as he spoke ; "how
have we met again? Not as it should have been — for vengeance on
tlii' insolent oppressor: no; but to go upon my knees before him, to
humble myself to the very dust, to drop my tears at his feet, to be-
seech hiru to spare my child's life."

Ami he spurned you away from him, of course?" replied Maillo-
tin du Bac, eagerly.

" Xo, no," answered the druggist ; " no, no, he did not spurn me,
but he did worse; he pretended to pity me. He declared that what I
a.-kcd was not in his power, that he had not pronounced the sen-
tence, that it was the eschevins of the city, and that he had no right
nor authority to reverse the judgment. Oh ! that I should have been
the cursed idiot to have humbled myself before him — to be pitied, to
be commiserated by him whose buffet was still burning on my cheek
—to be called, poor man! unhappy father! — to be prayed to take
some wine, as if I had not the wherewithal to buy it for myself.
Out upon them all ! Eternal curses light upon their heads, and sink

MAEr OF BURGUNBS. 131

them all to Hell!" and as he spoke, the unhappy man gave way
to one of those fearful fits of wrath which had divided his mo-
ments during the whole of that day, with grief as bitter and un-
availing.

Maillotin du Bac let the first gust of passion have its way, with
that sort of calm indifferent management of the other's grief which
showed how familiar his ruthless office had rendered him with every
expression of human misery and despair. " Ay," he said, after
the tempest had in some degree passed, " it was just like him ; a
cold calculating person enough he is, and was, and always will be !
Much should I like to hear, though, how it happened that he had no
power to grant pardon. Did not the princess give him full authority
when he went ?"

"He said not! he said not!" cried the druggist, eagerly; "and if
he lied, with a father's tears dewing his feet, a father's agony before
his eyes, he has purchased a place for himself as deep as Judas in the
fiery abyss— if there be such a place, at least, as monks would have
us believe: would it were true, for his sake !"

" But why did you not pray him," demanded the Prevot, " to stay
the execution till the return of the princess herself? She would
have granted you an easy pardon, and your boy's life might have
been saved."

"I did, I did," replied the unhappy father; "I did pray — I did be-
seech for a day — for an hour, but he would not listen to me. He said
that the circumstances of the case would not justify such an action ; that
the proofs were clear and undoubted ; that he — he, my poor luckless
boy — had committed an offence heinous in the eyes of God and man ;
that he had outraged a defenceless woman, and slain a fellow-crea-
ture to escape from the punishment of the crime he had committed!
Oh ! may the time come that he himself may plead for mercy to ears
as deaf and inexorable! Mark me, Sir Prevot, mark me! men say
lightly that they would give a right hand for some trifling nothing
that they covet in this world : some rare jewel, or some painted hood,
or some prancing horse ; but I would lay down both these old hands,
and bid the hangman strike them off, aye, with a smile, for but one
hour of sweet revenge."

" If such be the case — " replied Maillotin du Bac, in his usual com-
mon-place tone.

" If such be the case ?" exclaimed the other, starting up with a
new and violent passion : " if such be the case ? I tell thee it is,
man! Why came you here? What do you want with me? Be-
ware how you urge a desperate man ! What seek you ? What
oifer you ? Do you come to give me revenge ? If me no ifs, Sir Pre-
vot ; come you to give revenge ?"

" I do !" replied the Prevot, who had been waiting till the other
had run out his hasty exclamations ; " I do, Master Ganay, if you
can recover your cool tranquillity, and argue some difficult points
with me, not forgetting the calm policy with which, I have heard,
that you can bend some of your young and inexperienced comrades to
your purpose. But recollect yourself — but be determined, col-
lected, and shrewd, and you shall have revenge As I am a living

man!" he added, seeing the druggist's eyes fix upon him with a look
of stem inquiry. i

132 MARY OP BUHGUNDr.

"Then I am calm!" answered the old man, "as calm as the dead.
I seek but that one thing — revenge ! Thou sayest true, Sir Prevot ;
I have been moved, far too much moved. I, who am wont to stir the
minds of others, while I keep my own as tranquil as a still lake, I
should not have yielded to such mad despair, but should only have
thought how I might repay the mighty debts I owe to some below
the moon. Pardon me, and forget what you have seen ; but you
have never lost a child : you have never seen your only one given to
the butchers. But I am calm, as I said, quite calm ; and I will be
calmer still. Ho, boyl without there!" and rising from the table, he
threw open the door, and rang a small silver hand bell which stood
beside him, in answer to the tones of which, the boy who had before
presented himself, re-appeared.

" Bring me," said the druggist, " that small box of the preciou9
juice of the Thebaid, which the Venetian merchants sent me, so pure
and unadulterated. Let us be silent till it comes," he added, speak-
ing to the Prevot ; " it will soon quiet all but the settled purpose.
I marvel that I thought not of its virtues before."

The boy returned speedily, bringing a small box of Sanders wood, in
which, wrapped in innumerable covers to preserve its virtues, was a
quantity of pure opium, from the mass of which the druggist pinched
off a small portion, and swallowed it, much to the surprise of Maillo-
tin du Bac, who held all drugs in sovereign abhorrence. However
violent might be his passions, Ganay, by the influence of a powerful
mind, had acquired such complete command over them, in all ordi-
nary circumstances, that seldom, if ever, had they cast off his control
in the course of life. On the present occasion, indeed, despair and
mental agony had conquered all for a time ; but, even before he had
swallowed the opium, he had recovered his rule ; and, speedily, as
that great narcotic began to exercise its soothing influence upon the
irritated fibres of his corporeal frame, the mind acquired still greater
ascendency, and he felt no little shame and contempt for himself, on
account of the weak burst of frenzied violence to which he had given
way in the presence of the Prevot.

He was too politic, however, when he had regained his self-com-
mand, to show that he did contemn the feelings to which he had given
way, and he at once prepared to play with Maillotin du Bac the same
slirewd and artificial part which he had laid down as the general rule
of his behaviour towards mankind.

The two were fairly matched ; for the Prevot was one of those, in
whom, a sort of natural instinct, as well as the continual habit of ob-
servation, leads to the clear perception of other men's motives, espe-
cially where they strive to conceal themselves amongst the dark and
tortuous paths of policy. He was, certainly, sometimes wrong in his
calculations, but was not often so ; and, in the present instance, by
placing himself exactly in the situation of the druggist, and conceiv-
ing what would have been his own feelings under su-jh circumstances,
with a little allowance for the difference of character, he arrived at a
very correct conclusion, in regard to the designs and the wishes of his
companion, as well as to the obstacles which might impede them from
acting together.

One great difficulty, indeed, would have lain in his way on al-
most any other occasion; for so accustomed was he both to see

MARY OP BURGUNDY. 133

others attempt to deceive him, and to deceive others himself in
return, that he could scarcely deal straight-forwardly with any one.
As he was now perfectly sincere, however, in his desire of aiding
the druggist's revenge, or rather of accomplishing his own through
that of Ganay, he could afford to be candid on the present occa-
sion. All that obstructed their cordial co-operation arose in those
doubts and fears of each other, which all villains, however bold, must
naturally feel on leaguing themselves together for an evil purpose ;
and such doubts and fears were undoubtedly felt strongly by the Pre-
vot and his companion.

Nevertheless, these difficulties were to be got over. The jealousies
and suspicions were soon very frankly avowed ; for as each — though
with certain modifications — considered cunning or shrewdness as the
height of human wisdom, and, consequently, of human virtue, vanity
itself naturally taught them to display rather than to conceal the
prudent circumspection, with which they guarded against any danger
from each other.

We cannot here detail the whole conversation that ensued; but, in
the first instance, the druggist made himself master of all the circum-
stances which acted as incentives to revenge, in the mind of Maillotin
du Bac, against the Lord of Imbercourt, before he committed himself
further. By many a keen question, he induced him to unveil, step
by step, the manner in which, through many years, that nobleman
had thwarted his designs, and incurred his displeasure ; how he had
cut him off from reward and honour, where he had striven for it by
dishonourable means ; how he had defended the innocent against his
persecution; how he had sternly overturned many of his best laid
schemes, and exposed some of his most subtle contrivances, from a
period long before, up to the day on which his testimony had freed
Albert Maurice from the effects of the Prevot's vindictive hatred.
Had there been one defect in the chain — had not the motive for ven-
geance been clear and evident — the doubts of the druggist might
have remained unshaken, and he might have conceived that Maillotin
du Bac had visited him as a spy, with the design of betraying the
schemes of vengeance which his incautious indignation might breathe,
to the ears of those who had refused mercy to his child. But the
Prevot, appreciating and revering his suspicions, recapitulated every
event with cool, bitter exactness, and dwelt upon the various circum-
stances with a precision that showed how deeply they were impressed
upon his memorv. He added, too, a slight glimpse of interested
motives, by showing how Imbercourt had stood in the way of his
advancement, and how he might be profited in his own office if that
nobleman were removed, by any means, from the councils of Burgundy.

The impression thus left upon the mind of the burgher — and it was
a correct one — was, that there was' a long store of treasured hatred
in the mind of the Prevot towards this statesman, Imbercourt, aggra-
vated by thwarted ambition and avarice; and that he had reached
thai point at which he was ready to run considerable risks for the
gratification of his vengeance and the promotion of his interest. As
to any moral sentiment standing in the way, it was an objection which
neither the Prevot nor the druggist ever dreamed of. Those were
ties from which each felt that the other was free, and therefore they
were never taken into consideration.

134 MARY OF BURGUNDY.

After a long conversation had brought them to this mutual state
of good understanding, and after the druggist had pretty plainly
pointed out that, before proceeding with any of the deeper and more
intricate schemes, which might place the life of each in the power of
the other, he should expect that the Prevot would join with him in
some act which, though less dangerous, would give him a hold upon
that officer, that at present he did not possess, he went on with the
calmness of intense but subdued feelings.

" By the sentence of the eschevins," he said, in a low, quiet tone,
which was, perhaps, more impressive than even his former bursts of
passion ; " by the sentence of the eschevins, Sir Prevot, the body —
you understand me — the body is to hang in chains over the Ypres
gate, till such time as it is consumed by the wind, and the rain, and
the foul birds of prey ; will it not be sweet for a father's eyes to be-
hold such a sight every time that he rides forth from his own house?"

" Why, truly no, Master Ganay," replied Maillotin du Bac: "good
faith, you must take some other road."

"Ay; but would it not be a matter of triumph, rather than
shame," asked the druggist, " if I could ride through that gate, and
find the body gone? In a word, would it not be proud to show these
paltry tyrants that even now they cannot work all their will? What!
do you not understand me yet? I would have my son's head laid in
the calm ground, man: I would have the body of the thing I loved
removed from the place of horror and of shame. What say you? can
it be done?"

"I understand you now," answered the Prevot: "let me but think
a moment, Master Ganay: let me but think a moment. It can be
done — ay, it can be done: but I should think it mattered little to
one of your firm mind. The body will rot as soon in the holiest
ground that ever priest or bishop blest, as in the wide unholy air."

"Do I not know that?" demanded Ganay, with a curling lip.
" Think you that I ever dream of angels or devils, or all the absurd
fancies that monks and priestly quacks have built up, on the wild
vision of an hereafter? No, no! but I would fain disappoint the
tyrants, and teach them that they cannot do all. I would fain, too,
remove the memento of my house's shame from before the eyes of
my fellow-citizens. Can it be done, I say?"

"It can — it can!" replied Maillotin duBac; " and, to please you,
it shall be done. Hie you away straight to the churchyard of the
Minnims, with some one you can trust bearing pickaxe and shovel.
I'se my name, and the porter will soon let you in. Wait there till I
come, and busy the man you take with you in digging a trench. Be
quick: for it will take long. I go upon my errand, and I will be
there in about two hours. After this, Master Ganay, I think we may
trust each other. So we will meet again to-morrow night, at this
hour ; and, if I mistake not, we will soon find means to crush the
viper that has stung us both,"

The druggist replied not a word, but wrung the hand that the
prevot had given him hard in his own, and suffered him to depart.

It were needless to trace further the proceedings of that night, or
to give any more detailed explanations in regard to the events just
mentioned, than to say, that early the following morning a party of
children and women assembled before the Ypres gate, to gaze — with

MARY OF BURGUNDY. 135

that fondness for strange and fearful sights which often characterizes
that age and that sex — upon the body of young Karl Ganay, the rich
druggist's son, who, after a short course of wild profligacy and vice,
had been hanged for murder the day before. However much they
might expect to have their wonder excited, it was so in a greater
degree, though in a different manner from that which they antici-
pated. There, on the projecting beam frorr. which the unhappy
young man had been suspended, hung, indeed, the rope which had
terminated his existence, and the chains which marked the additional
turpitude of his offence ; but the body itself was no longer there ; and
the tidings of what had occurred soon spread through the city.

Strict search was immediately instituted. The eschevins, and
»ther officers appointed by the Duke of Burgundy, were furious at
their authority being set at nought, and both held out threats and
offered rewards for the discovery of the body. But it was all in vain:
and while some of the more malevolent — remembering the course of
young Ganay's life, and into the hands of what Being it had appeared
likely to cast him in the end — accounted for the disappearance of
his body, by supposing that the great enemy of mankind had carried
it off as his due; others, more charitable, but not less superstitious,
chose to believe that the father, by some drugs only known to him-
self, had found means to resuscitate his son, and had sent him away
to some distant land, where his crimes and their punishment were
equally unknown.

This version of the affair, indeed, obtained by far the most numerous
body of supporters ; and the tale, swollen and disfigured by tradition,
is still to be heard at the firesides of the citizens of Ghent.

CHAPTER XIX.

Other matters of more general interest occurred soon after the
events we have narrated in the last chapter, and imperatively called
the attention of the citizens of Ghent from the unhappy druggist and
his son. Strange rumours of a battle fought and lost beneath the
walls of Nancy, circulated in the good town during the evening of
the ninth of January. No one, however, could trace them to their
source. No messenger had arrived in the city from the army of the
Duke of Burgundy; and the wise and prudent amongst the citizens,
after a few inquiries concerning the authority on which these reports
rested, rejected them as false and malicious.

They were borne, however, in the evening, by Maillotin du Bac, to
the ears of the druggist Ganay ; and the chance of such an event was
eagerly canvassed between them, as well as the course of action to be
pursued in case the tidings should prove true ; which, as they calcu-
lated all the probabilities, and suffered their wishes in some degree
to lead their judgments, they gradually persuaded themselves was
even more than likely.

Long and anxious were their deliberations ; and it was verging fast
towards the hour of three in the morning when the Prevot left the
dwelling of the rich merchant. It was a clear, frosty night, with the
bright small stars twinkling in thousands through a sky from which
every drop of vapour and moisture seemed frozen away Ly the intense

136 MABY OF BDRGUNDT

cold. The world was all asleep; and the sound of a footfall in the
vacant streets was enough to make even the journeyer himself start
at the noise his step produced, so still and silent was the whole scene.
The sinking moon, though she still silvered over with her beams the
frost-work on the high roofs of the various buildings, and poured a
flood of mellow splendour down the long streets that led to the west-
ward, cast the broad shadows of the principal buildings completely
over all the other parts of the town, leaving no light but that which
was diffused through the whole air by the general brightness of the
sky, and its glistening reflection from the thin film of ice upon the
canals.

There is always something sublime and touching in the aspect of a
large city sleeping calmly in the moonlight of a clear quiet night, with
all its congregated thousands reposing beneath the good providence of
God. But the mind of Maillotin du Bac had reached that kind of ob-
duracy at which the sweetest or the most solemn, the most refreshing
or the most awful, of the pages in Nature's great monitory book are
equally unheeded. Wrapping his cloak round him, to guard against
the cold, he walked on, close to the houses, and turned into the first
small narrow alley that he found, in order that no watchful eye, if
such existed, might trace him from the house of the druggist. Thence,
again deviating into one of those lateral streets that lead along by the
side of the principal ones, he continued his course over the stones,
rendered black and slippery by the intense frost.

All was still. Not a sound fell upon the ear, except every now and
then the distant crowing of a cock heard through the clear air from
the country beyond the walls. After a little, however, as the Prevot
walked on, he caught the tramp of a horse's feet sounding afar off,
and, in a few minutes, the challenge of the sentries at the Alost gate,
the clang of the portcullis, the fall of the drawbridge, a brief murmured
conversation at the gate, and then again the sound of the horse's feet
advancing, at the slow pace which the state of the pavement rendered
necessary, down the principal street. All this he heard clearly and
distinctly; for the sound must have been small, indeed, which, in the
calm still winter air of the night, did not reach his practised ear.

He was now too far from the house of the druggist for his appear-
ance in the streets, even at that late hour, to lead to any suspicion of
their connexion, especially as his official duties were always a fair
excuse for conduct that in other men might have led to doubt and
question. At the same time, the very habits of his life gave him a
propensity to investigate even- occurrence, however slight, so that the
sound of some one entering the city, at such an hour of the night,
instantly attracted his attention, and his curiosity at once led him to
take a short cut into the street down which the horseman was riding.
It was one of those which, running nearly east and west, was still
illumined by the pale light of the moon; and the eye of Maillotin du
Bac, which never forgot the form that it had once rested upon,
instantly perceived and recognised an armed cavalier riding towards
him, whom he had known as a boon companion in the army of the
Duke of Burgundy.

His resolution was instantly taken to accost him; and, stepping out
of the shadow as the cavalier approached, he exclaimed, "Why, how
Bowl AVhat news, Paul Verdun? Mow long have you left the camp?"

MARY OI EUKGUNDT. 137

"Who the devil art thou?" was the first reply of the cavalier, who
gppeared to have drank more wine than was beneficial to his faculties
of perception; "Who the devil art thou? What! Master Prevot?
Give you good day ; give you good day — night, that is to say — or day
it may be, too ; for, by my faith, it is after cock-crow. What, going
your rounds? Ever watchful, Master Prevot, eh ? What news of the
good city?"

"Nothing stirring, nothing stirring," replied Maillotin du Bac; "no
news at all, except that the eschevins hanged a man yesterday, with-
out my help. But what news of the camp, I say ; and how came you
from it?"

" Ay, there is the mischief," said the soldier.

"What! no new defeat?" interrupted Maillotin du Bac, his wish,
very likely, being father to the thought.

"Defeat! No, no; no defeat, man!" answered the soldier; "never
were we better. A glorious army, posted strongly, the town almost
reduced by famine, and nothing but a handful of raw Switzers come
to relieve it. There will be a battle before many days are over ; and
Duke Charles will cut up the churls like mincemeat. But the
mischief is, that I should be sent away before it is fought."

" So, then, there has been no battle after all," exclaimed the Prevot.
" Well, God send it a good issue when it does come. Good night,
good friend, I must on upon my way."

" Good night ! good night !" replied the soldier ; " faith, I must on
my way, too ; for I have letters from the duke, and from the Count
de Chimay, for my good Lord of Imbercourt, and, somehow, I met
with three good companions at Alost, who wasted my time over their
cursed pottle-pots. Good night, good night," and so saying, he
rode on.

"Ha!" said the Prevot to himself, as he walked towards his own
dwelling; "so, that scheme is all vain, and we must try the other,
though it will be both difficult and dangerous to get any one to give
him the dose. I had rather that it had been something public, too,
if it had but been to wring his pride."

Thus muttering as he went, the Prevot now trod his way homeward.
The soldier and his war-horse were admitted into the court of the
Lord of Imbercourt's hotel. The streets of Ghent resumed their
solitude and silence ; and the night between the ninth and tenth of
January ended in peace.

No small activity was observable, however, the next morning in the
precincts of the court. By seven o'clock the Lord of Imbercourt was
on horseback, and proceeding towards the palace, at which Margaret,
Duchess of Burgundy, and sister to Edward IV. of England, had
arrived the day before. The Princess Mary, too, was expected from
the side of Bruges. But, nevertheless, two messengers were sent off
at different times, in that direction; and it was supposed that they
bore her the intelligence of an approaching battle, and recommended
her immediate return to the city.

The news which had been brought by Paul Verdun, and the cer«
tainty that, at the time of his departure from the Burgundian camp,
no battle had been fought, spread rapidly amongst the citizens, and
was received by every different individual with different feelings, as
he was well or ill affected to the reigning family. The certainty,

138 MART OP BUBGUNDT.

however, that an immediate struggle was about to take place between
Charles the Bold and his determined and hitherto successful adversa-
ries, the Swiss, of course kept the minds of the people of the city in a
state of agitation and excitement; a state the most detrimental,
morally and physically, that it is possible to conceive for any town or
any people. Business was neglected, if not suspended; political
gossipings supplied the room of activity and industry ; anxiety, sus-
picion, and irritation took the place of calm labour and tranquil
enjoyment; the slightest piece of news, whether false or true, was
sought and received as a boon ; the wildest tale found some to believe
it ; and a small lie, by the industrious augmentation of many, soon
swelled into a mountain of falsehood.

Towards evening the Princess Mary arrived at the palace ; and
while the good people of Ghent proceeded to distort amongst them-
selves the news of her return in every different way that suited their
fancies — some saying that she had come back with only a single
squire, some that she had brought with her a force of a thousand
men-at-arms — that fair girl herself, after dismounting in the court-
yard, together with exactly the same train which had accompanied
her during the whole course of her progress, ran lightly up tne wide
flight of steps which conducted to the apartments of her amiable step-
dame, ami in a moment after was in the arms of Margaret of York.

•' Bless thee, my sweet child, bless thee !" said the fair Englishwoman,
pressing her husband's daughter to her bosom ; " thou art come to
comfort me; for I am very sad, and my heart is full of forebodings."

" Nay, nay, madam, never fear," replied the princess; "you are
sad and anxious because you know my lord and father is likely to risk
a battle, and I, of course, am anxious too ; but still we must not
despond. Remember, madam, how often he has fought and conquered."

"It is not for the battle that I fear," replied Margaret of York;
" my early days, and my early recollections, have been, and are, of
nothing but stricken fields, and battles lost and won ; and the tidings
of approaching strife would give me no apprehensions, did not those
who are on the spot breathe doubts and suspicions which have sadly
shaken my hopes, dear Mary. In a word, with the duke's letters,
received last night, came a despatch to the good Lord of Iinbercourt
from the Count de Chimay. He speaks vaguely and doubtingly; but
he evidently apprehends treason, and as evidently points to Campo
Ba<-S() as the traitor — your father's most trusted and favourite servant."

"I would fain see the letters," replied the princess: "may I be-
Beecli you, madam, to let the Lord of Imbercourt be sent for?"

The desire of the princess was immediately obeyed; and in a short
time, Iinbercourt returned to the palace. His words were few, and
tended merely to express his congratulations on the princess's safe
return, without touching upon the fears which had been more openly
spoken by the Duchess of Burgundy. There was, however, a degree
of settled gloom upon his countenance, and a restless anxiety in his
eye, which showed that his apprehensions were perhaps greater even
than her own. He immediately laid before the Princess Mary the
letters which he had received the night before, and which, as far as
positive fact went, merely stated that the Burgundian army, in gre&i
force, lay in a strong position beneath the walls of Nancy ; that a
small army of Swiss and German* were encamped opposite to them,

MABY OP BURGUNDT. 139

and that a battle was likely soon to take place. The duke's letter
was short and general ; that of the Count de Chimay was more par-
ticular; and Mary read over both with deep and eager attention.

" There is much matter for fear," she said, as she laid them down,
" in both these despatches. May God defend us, and avert the dan-
gers that threaten!"

"That there is much to raise apprehension in the letter of Mon-
sieur de Chimay, I acknowledge, madam," replied the Lord of Imber-
court; " but I see nothing in that of our noble sovereign the duke
which should give us any alarm."

Mary raised her eyes with a timid glance towards the face of Mar-
garet of York, as if fearful of causing her pain, or of increasing her
alarm. But the duchess instantly perceived her hesitation, and ex-
claimed : " Speak, speak, dear Mary ! let us not have a thought
concealed from each other."

" Well, then," replied Mary, the tears starting in her eyes — " I
must say I see more, far more, cause for apprehension in this letter
than in this; and she laid her hand first upon the letter of her father,
and then upon that of the Count de Chimay. " The one," she pro-
ceeded, " speaks vaguely of traitors to be feared in my father's camp ;
the other shows me much cause to fear for my father himself. Oh, my
lord !" she added, laying her left hand upon the arm of Imbercourt,
while, with her right, she pointed to a number of blots and erasures,
sentences begun and not finished, or phrases entirely altered, in the
despatch from her father: "Oh, my lord! do you not see a great
alteration here ? The time was when the brief, clear sentences of
Charles of Burgundy, unstudied and rough though they might some-
times be, proceeded at once to the point, without change or hesitation,
and expressed with force and precision the exact meaning, which was
too distinct in his mind ever to be doubtful in his words : but look at
that letter, my lord. Did you ever see anything like that from the
hand of the duke before ?"

Imbercourt was silent, and gazed upon the paper with a stern and
mournful glance.

"My lord, my lord!" continued Mary, "my father is ill; and,
with Heaven's blessing, I will set out to-morrow to see him and con-
Bole him."

" Nay, lady," replied Imbercourt, " you must not forget that you
are left here by our sovereign lord, as his representative in Flanders ;
and indeed you must not quit your post. Before you could arrive,
too, a battle will have been fought. I will yet trust that the noble
duke will win it gloriously ; and you know him too well to doubt,"
he added, with a faint smile, " that a battle won will do more to con-
sole him than the sweetest voice that ever whispered comfort in the
ear of man."

"I do indeed, I do indeed!" replied Mary; but no smile accom-
panied her words ; for that truth had been often felt too bitterly
during the course of her past life. " I do indeed ; but yet the only
thing that can detain me here while my father, ill at ease, and shaken
both in body and mind, lies in his weary leaguer before Nancy, is the
doubt which is the superior duty: to join him there, or to remain in
the situation in which he has placed me."

" Nay, nay, Mary," said Margaret of York ; " your duty binds yoa

140 MARY OF BURGCNDV.

to stay here, and mine calls me hence. You can trust my love both
for your father and yourself; and, as soon as may be, I will join him,
though haply my coming unbidden may call on me some harsh words,
as when last I saw him at Dijon."

" Bear with him, dear lady ! oh, bear with him!" exclaimed Mary.
"It is but the haste of an impatient spirit chafed by unwonted re-
verses. He knows the worth of your love too well to chide with any
bitterness. But hark! she proceeded, "what noise is that in the
court ? For God's sake, my lord of Imbercourt, look out and see!
for since I took upon me the sad task of holding the reins, which re-
quire a far stronger hand than mine, I have met with so many sor-
rows and misfortunes, that every sound alarms me. Hark! there
are many people speaking." In obedience to her command, Imber-
court approached the casement which opened above the lesser court
of the palace, and, throwing back a part of the lattice, he looked out
upon what was passing below. The first object that his eyes fell upon
was the form of the old Lord of Neufchatel, in the act of dismounting
from his horse by the aid of two stout attendants, whose dusty ar-
mour and jaded horses evinced that they, like their master, had
travelled far and fast. The old nobleman himself, however, displayed
strong traces of battle as well as wayfaring. His helmet was off. and
its place supplied by a small furred cap, from underneath which, a
mingled mass of bandages and long grey hair, dabbled with dust
and blood, made its appearance; while his left arm, supported in a
torn and soiled scarf, showed that the fight had been severe ere he
left it.

Imbercourt at once guessed the event which he had come to com-
municate, well knowing that an aged and wounded cavalier would not
have been chosen as the messenger of victory, and while, with slow
and painful efforts, the old lord dismounted, the counsellor withdrew
from the window; doubting whether he should meet him on the
stairs and delay the tidings that he bore, till Mary was more prepared
to receive them, or whether he should suffer him to see the princess,
and let the shock pass over at once. His course, however, was de-
terminad by Mary herself, who marked the conflict in his mind by
the changing expression of his countenance.

" What is it, my lord?" she exclaimed ; " speak boldly ! Are they
again in revolt ?"

"Who, madam? — the men of Ghent?" demanded Imbercourt.
"Oh! no, no! nothing of the kind. It is apparently a wounded
officer bearing news from the army ; and I fear "

Mary waved her hand: "Bid him hither! — quick!" she cried.
01 Suspense is worse than any tidings. Quick, my lord! Bid him
hither, without pause of idle ceremony."

Imbercourt withdrew to obey ; and while Mary gazed with eager
eyes upon the door, Margaret of York fixed her glance with melan-
choly interest on her fair step-daughter, more anxious for Mary of
Burgundy — in whom she had found as much affection as she could
have expected from a child of her own bosom — than even for a hus-
band, who had never greatly sought her love, and who had neglected
her as soon as he found that she was destined to be childless. But a
short time elapsed between the Lord of Imbercourt's departure and
iiis return ; but moments of apprehension would weigh down many

1HARY OF BUKGUNBI. 141

long days of joy ; and to Mary of Burgundy his absence seemed in-
terminable. At length, however, he came, followed slowly by the old
Lord of Neufchatel, unable, from wounds, and weariness, and exhaus-
tion, to walk without the support of several attendants.

Even anxiety conquered not the gentleness of Mary's heart ; and
though she began by exclaiming, as he entered, " Well, my lord,
speak!" she instantly paused, and continued, "Good Heaven! you
are sadly wounded, sir. Bring forward that chair; send for the chi-
rurgeon of the household. Sit you down, my Lord of Neufchatel.
How fare you now ?"

" Better than many a better man, madam," replied the old knight,
more full of the disastrous tidings he bore than even of his corporeal
sufferings ; " many a one lies cold that could fill the saddle now-a-
days far better than old Thibault of Neufchatel."

" Good God ! then, what are your tidings ?" cried Mary, clasping
her hands. " My father ? — speak, sir ! — my father ?"

"Is well, I hope, lady," answered the old soldier; "but as for his
army—"

" Stop, stop!" exclaimed the princess; "first, thank God for that!
But are you sure, my lord, that he is safe ?"

" Nay, nay, I cannot vouch it, lady," he replied ; " his army, how-
ever, is no more. Fatal, most fatal, has been the duke's determina-
tion. All is lost in the field. The army of Burgundy is, as I have
said, no more ; and where the duke is, I cannot say, though I saw
him galloping towards the left when I quitted the field, which was
not amongst the first. Ah! had he but taken my advice," he added,
with a rueful shake of the head ; a slight touch of natural vanity ob-
truding itself, even then, in the midst of sincere grief of mind, and
pain and exhaustion of body: "Ah! had he but taken my advice,
and not that of either the black traitor, Campo Basso, or of Chimay,
and such boys as those ! But, lady, I am faint and weary, for I have
ridden harder to bear you these news, though they be sad ones, and
to bid you prepare all sorts of reinforcements to check the enemy,
than ever I thought to ride from a field of battle."

" But tell me, my lord," said Margaret of York, stepping forward,
as Mary, overwhelmed with the tidings, sat gazing mournfully in the
face of the old soldier, while her mind was afar ; " but tell me, my
lord, how all this has happened. Speak, for I have a right to hear;
and my ear, alas ! has been, from the cradle, too much accustomed to
the details of battle and bloodshed, for my cheek to blanch or my heart
to fail. Say, how went this luckless day?"

" Faith, good madam, I must be short with my tale," replied the
Lord of Neufchatel, " for I know not how, but my breath fails me.
My lord the duke — God send him safe to Ghent! had sworn by all the
saints, that no house of stone should ever cover his head till he had
slept in Nancy, which, as you know, we had besieged some days.
The enemy, in the meanwhile, lay over the water a league or two
beyond St. Nicholas, and day by day increased in number, while day
by day the forces of the duke fell off; for we had famine and disease,
and — worse than all — traitors in the camp. But his Grace would not
be warned, though many a one strove to warn him ; and at length, on
the Sunday morning, just five days since, the Swiss and Lorrainers,
with their German and French allies and Italian traitors, marched

142 HARY OF BURGUNDT.

boldly up towards our camp. Faith! it was a fair sight to see them
come in two great bodies ; one by the river, and the other by the high
road from Neufville. Churls though they were, they made a gallant
array. So then they came on. - But, madam," he added, rising and
supporting himself by the back of the chair, " I love not to think of
it ! Good sooth, it makes my heart swell too much to tell the whole
just now. We were soon hand to hand : the artillery roaring, bolts
and arrows and balls flying, the trumpets braying, and the men-at-
arms charging gallantly. But still, as I looked round, I saw the ranks
of Burgundy wax thin : and still the Swiss churls pushed on ; and I
beheld many a stout soldier fall, and many that had fought well turn
his back. Well, as I was thinking what might best be done, my lord
the duke rode up ; and, speaking softly as a woman, he said — ' My
good old friend, I pray you join De Lalaing, and, with your men-at-
arms, make one good charge upon the flank of yonder boors.' It was
soon done and over. We went down like the shot of a mangonel, but
we were driven back like the same shot when it bounds off from a
wall of stone. One churl shivered my helmet, and nearly split my
skull with his two-handed sword. Another shot me in the arm with
his hand-gun. All my poor fellows but two or three died around me
bravely ; and they who were left took my horse by the bridle, and were
carrying me off, when, by our Lady! I saw one of the base Italians
who had betrayed us all, despatching my poor Squire Walter as he
lay tumbled from his horse upon a little mound. He had served with
me in nine stricken fields, and many a chance affray; he had Lever
quitted me for well nigh twenty years, so I could not quit him then.
No, lady, no! but shaking the bridle from their hands that would have
stayed me, I turned me round, and struck one more good stroke for
Burgundy. But the poor lad was dead ! God have his soul — the
poor lad was dead'" and as he spoke, the old knight dashed the tear
from his eye with the back of his brown hand.

"Little is there more to tell, madam," he proceeded, after a
moment's pause. " By this time the battle had changed to a flight
and a pursuit. There were not ten men who held together on the
field. Shame to him who turns his back while one hope lasts: but no
shame to him who flies from a lost field. I saw the duke galloping to
the left; and as I knew the country well, I spurred for the bridge of
La Buissiere, and sad it was to see the road all strewed with dead and
dying. But when I came near the bridge, the matter was still worse,
for there was that foul traitor, Campo Basso,* with a barricade of
carts and waggons, cutting off the fugitives from his betrayed master's
host. When I looked forward, there were the Italian devils ; when I
looked behind, down were coming the German swine. Gn the one
hand was the hill, with the Swiss pikes gleaming over the top, and
on the other was the river. The water afforded the only chance ; so
in we plunged. Our horses were strong and unwounded, and we
struggled through, though many a gallant gentleman sunk close before
our eyes. But, lady," he added, once more, as the excitement of

* This fact is undoubted, and, indeed, the whole account of the battle of Nancy
here given is confirmed by Jean Molinet, Historiographer to Mary of Burgundy.
The writer of this book, however, would have omitted this narration of events, which
have been so admirably detailed elsewhere, had it not been absolutely necessary to
Us story.

HA2Y OP BURGUNDY. 143

detailing the battle passed away, " I am growing faint again, and in
good sooth I have little more to tell ; therefore, by your Grace's leave,
I will retire."

Mary answered not a word, but gazed upon the old man with the
same fixed painful glance; but the duchess bowed her head, and the
Lord of Neufchatel, with the aid of his two attendants, moved towards
the door.

Before he reached it, however, he paused, and turning round ex-
claimed— "Faith! I had forgot the very errand which made me make
such haste ; for I have travelled with scarcely an hour's rest, in order
to bid you take instant measures to secure the country, for that wild
young wolf of Lorraine will be upon the frontier speedily ; and even
as I passed by Brussels I heard strange tales of movements in France.
You, my Lord of Imbercourt, look to it with all speed ; for, believe me,
not an hour is to be lost."

Thus saying, he turned and left the chamber, while Imbercourt
advanced to the princess, and besought her to be comforted. She
answered nothing, however ; and only by a melancholy wave of the
hand, expressed how deep were her apprehensions.

" Nay, Mary, my sweet child," said the duchess, " give not way to
despair: remember, there is a God of mercy above us, who sees all,
and rules all, for the best."

Mary of Burgundy cast her fair arms round her stepmother, and
exclaiming, "My father! oh, my father!" burst into a passionate flood
of tears.

" Leave us, my Lord of Imbercourt," said the duchess. " Let me
beseech you to take all the measures necessary for our security ; and
send out messengers to gain more intelligence of this sad defeat. Call
those whom you can best trust to council ; and, for God's sake, suffer
not your mind to be overcome at the moment that all its energies are
most required."

Imbercourt bowed and withdrew: but there were circumstances in
the situation of the country which rendered it impossible for him to
act or think with that calm tranquillity which he had displayed at
other times. A deep and heavy gloom fell over him from the first
moment that the loss of the fatal battle of Nancy met his ear; and he
never seemed wholly to recover his former energies.

He took care, however, to summon to the side of the princess, in
her hour of need, all those who, he thought, might give consolation
and support. Messengers were instantly despatched to the Lord of
Ravestein, the Duke of Cleves, the Bishop of Liege, and several
others, whose relationship to the house of Burgundy afforded the best
security for their taking an interest in its fate; and Imbercourt
endeavoured, as far as possible, to increase the military force within
the town of Ghent, without exciting the watchful jealousy of the
inhabitants ; but the country was totally drained of men, and few, if
any, could be added at a short notice to the force within the town —
at least, few of those feudal troops on which alone reliance could be
placed.

In the meanwhile, during the evening and the early part of the
night which followed the arrival of the Lord of Neufchatel, post after
post came in from the side of Alost and Brussels, bringing new details
And rumours of the battle; and each additional tact proved it to ha*t*

144 MARY OP BURGUNDY.

been more disastrous and bloody than it had appeared at first.
Nothing v> as heard hut long lists of the dead, or exaggerated compu-
tations of the total loss. Still, there was a deep silence in regard to
the duke himself. No one knew what had befallen him in the fight
or the pursuit; and no one ventured to assert, what all internally-
believed, that he had fallen upon that bloody plain. The very silence,
however, was ominous; and the whole of the inmates of the ducal
dwelling in Ghent passed the night in that gloomy apprehension,
which is perhaps more racking to the heart than absolute sorrow.

Mary wept her father as dead ; but yet she insisted upon hearing
the tidings "that every courier brought in, with that anxious eager-
ness which showed that a spark of hope, however faint, still remained
alive within her bosom ; but with her, and, indeed, with every one else,
as fresh news arrived, as the accounts of the stern determination
evinced by the duke before the battle were multiplied, and as his often
reiterated declaration that he would never quit the field alive, was
repeated, the conviction of his death became more and more complete.

In the meanwhile, the people of the city, collecting in eager and
anxious crowds in the streets, especially towards the Brussels gate,
canvassed in low tones the events that had taken place. As one
horseman after another entered the town, still some individual would
start out to accost him, and running by his side as he rode on, would
gather from him whatever information he would afford, and then
return to tell it to the groups, whose comments on the past were
seldom unconnected with some of those whispered apprehensions for
the future, which, like the low moanings of the rising wind, generally
give notice of a coming storm long before it is ready to fall upon the
earth.

CHAPTER XX.

It was remarked as an extraordinary fact, that during the whole
course of that evening — an evening of the greatest excitement and
anxiety, perhaps, that Ghent had ever known — not one of the principal
and most influential citizens was seen in the streets of the city. The
groups which collected were altogether of the lower classes ; and those
amongst them who were supposed to be the most knowing in the
policy of the higher burghers, could discover no other sign of interest
and agitation on their part, than was afforded by the sight of one of
the serving-men of Albert Maurice calling rapidly at the houses of
five or six of the principal merchants, amongst whom the druggist
Ganay was the first.

Gradually, as the evening closed in, the crowds began to disperse —
a considerable number returning home early, to discuss with their
wives and families the news they had collected in the town, and to
acquire that degree of domestic importance which a budget of strange
tidings is always sure to impart to the bearer. One after another,
the diminishing groups thus separated at length — the wind, which
was intensely cold, though symptoms of a thaw had begun to manifest
themselves, driving even the most persevering to the shelter of their
own homes, as the night advanced — and only one or two idle young
men, who could boast some acquaintance with the soldiers on guard
at the Brussels gate, remained after nine o'clock within the warm

KARY OF BUKGUNDT. 14S

refuge of the guard-house, waiting for any tidings that might still
arrive.

The many varied scenes, the continued presence of danger, the fre-
quent breaking short of ties and affections, have all a natural tendency
to render the heart of an old soldier, in some degree callous and indif-
ferent to events which agitate and affect younger and fresher-minded
men. It was wonderful to hear with what calm composure the vete-
rans in the guard-house talked over the events which had spread grief
and dismay through the palace, and excitement and alarm in the
city. Although they all loved and admired the character of Charles
the Bold, for the very lion-hearted qualities which had led him to
attempt impossible enterprises, and to run upon certain defeat, yet
they canvassed his conduct with calm and somewhat contemptuous-
examination, and spoke of his probable death in the same terms that
they might be supposed to use in talking of a hound which had been
gored by the boar.

" Why the devil did he sit down before Nancy, in the middle of
winter?" cried one; "he might have known very well that nobody
would stay with him, looking at stone walls, in a frost like this."

" Ay, ay, but he did worse than that !" replied another : "why did he
trust a set of Italian hirelings, when he had good subjects of his own ?"
" Why, old lions," rejoined a third, " will, they say, grow both sus-
picious and obstinate."

" Full time, then, that they should get their throats cut," answered
the first: " but I know old Charlie well ; and I will bet a flagon of
Beaune to a flask of sour Rhenish, that he never left the field of
Nancy. No, no ; he had had enough of running away ; and sure I am
that he died like a stag at bay. Well, I am almost sorry that I was
not with him, though a warm guard-house and a pottle-pot are better^
at any time, in a January night, than the cold ground and a bloody
nightcap. Hie thee over, Bontemps, to the vintner's at the corner,
and fill the flagon with the best thou canst get for that broad piece.
By my faith! we will have a carouse to the old Lion of Burgundy, be-
lie living or dead, and then we will go sleep. Hie thee over, while I
undo the gate, for there is some one blowing his horn: a new post
from Alost, bringing more news, I warrant."

While one soldier, according to the request of the other, ran across
the street to seek matter for the potations with which they proposed
to conclude the night, his senior proceeded to the gate, where, the
portcullis being raised, and the drawbridge let down, a cavalier imme-
diately rode in, whom he addressed with — "Ha! Master Prevot; you
can never have gone as far as Alost since you rode out ?"

" By my faith ! I have, though," replied Maillotin du Bac ; "look
at my beast : he is steaming like a quagmire, with hard riding."

"Well, what news? — what news?" cried the other; "you must
have heard some tidings."

" Nothing new at all," replied the Prevot : " all is stale as a miser's
cheese ; — a battle fought and lost ; men dead, but not buried ; the
army dispersed, and every one gone Heaven knows where. Good
night, good night!" and so saying, he rode on. But it is remarkable,
that though his horse was evidently ready to drop with fatigue, ha
did not, at first, take his way towards his own dwelling, but directed
his course towards the house of the little druggist Ganay.

146 MARY OF BUHGUNDT.

In the meantime the soldiers in the guard-house discussed the con-
tents of the flagon, with which their messenger returned ; sharing it
liberally with the two or three young artizans whom they had per.
mitted to remain at their post. With what had been drunk before,
the contents of the gallon pot which was now brought over was suffi-
cient, notwithstanding the fact of its being shared with the citizens,
to obfuscate, in some degree, the intellects of the soldiery ; and, after
having given their civil companions a somewhat unceremonious no-
tice to go home, they cast themselves down upon the straw which
was provided for their accommodation during the night, and soon for-
got everything else, under the influence of the drowsy god. The sen-
try without, who had been ordered to watch well, of course felt a
greater inclination to sleep than ordinary, which was increased by
the cold ; and, in spite of various vigorous efforts tv, keep himself
awake by walking rapidly up and down, dropping the end of his par-
tizan upon the ground, and several other little experiments of the
same kind, he found himself, from time to time, nodding most re-
freshingly under the centre of the high arch which spanned over the
gate.

How long this state of things had continued none of the soldiers
knew, when suddenly the sentry was woke by his weapon being
snatched hastily from his hands ; and, on shaking off the slumber
which oppressed him, he found himself pinioned by a number of
powerful men, while a stern voice, backed by a naked sword at his
throat, commanded him to be silent on pain of death. Faithful, in this
instance at least, to his duty, without a moment's consideration, the
soldier shouted, "To arms! to arms!" But he was instantly thrown
down and tied by those who held him, while a number of others
made their way into the guard-house. The soldiers there were al-
ready upon their feet ; and the captain of the watch was starting for-
ward to light the match of his arquebuse at the lantern which hung
against the wall, when a powerful man, rushing in, closed with him,
and, throwing him violently back, interposed between him and the
light. A dozen more persons, completely armed, poured into the
building; and more than one stern voice commanded the four sol-
diers which it contained to lay down their arms at once.

"Who, in the fiend's name, are you, my masters V" exclaimed the
captain of the watch : " let us hear that, before we put down our
arms, at all events :" and while he spoke he made impatient signs to
one of his companions to get out of the small window, and give the
alarm : but this scheme was frustrated by the same tall, powerful
figure which had before prevented him from lighting his match.

" Wo are the officers of the burgher guard of Ghent," replied the
stranger," whose incontestible right and privilege it has been, in all
ages, to mount guard on the walls and at the gates of our own city;
which privilege, though it was usurped from us by the Duke Charles,
is no less valid than before that act. Give up your arms, then,
quietly, and no harm shall befall you."

" Before we do that, good sir," answered the captain of the watch,
" we must have authority from our superior officers. As you well
know, the commander for the night is at the Ypres gate ; send to him,
and we will obey his commands."

"You seek, sir, to gain time," said the other; "but it is in vain.

MARY OF BURGUNDY. 147

The walls and the gates are now in our hands. Our sentinels are
mounted everywhere ; and each military post which had been unlaw-
fully placed by the Duke of Burgundy, throughout the city of Ghent,
has been disarmed before we came hither. Yield, therefore, with a
good grace, for yield you must ; and as no blood has been shed al-
ready, pity it were to begin now."

" Well sir ! well !" replied the captain of the watch : " you say right
in that at least ; though I should be willing enough to shed blood of
my own, or of other men, could it prove of service. But four can
hardly cope with twenty ; therefore, ground your arms, my lads, and
give them up. We are your prisoners, sir."

" You have done wisely, soldier," said Albert Maurice, for he it
was who spoke ; " take their arms, my friends, but suffer them to pass
freely out. As our fellow-citizens arrive, let all the posts be doubled.
Now, good Master Ganay," he added in a whisper, " gather together
the men we named, and join me quickly at my house. It wants but
four hours to daybreak ; ere the sun rises, we have as much to do as
would take lazy statesmen full many a month. I go round by the
western magazine, to secure, if possible, the stores and artillery.
But be quick, for now despatch is everything."

The purpose of Albert Maurice was accomplished without diffi-
culty. The magazine was but scantily guarded ; and the sleeping sol-
diers were surprised at that post as easily as the others had been at
the guard-houses. The gates, the defences, and all the principal mili-
tary stations, were now in the hands of the people ; and Albert Mau-
rice hastened home to meet a number of individuals, selected from
the most influential citizens, on whose consent, and with whose aid,
he proposed to assert the ancient privileges of the city of Ghent, as
the first step to those grander plans of general emancipation, which
yet remained but vague and undefined even in his own mind.

So rapid had been the determination and the movements of the young
citizen through all that night, so prompt and successful all his mea-
sures, that even Ganay, stirred up by revenge and hatred, and guided
by consummate cunning and shrewdness, had been left far behind.
Where he had expected to be obliged to urge and suggest, he found
himself at once compelled to follow and obey ; and, yielding readily
to a mind that he felt to be far superior, he had been hurried through
a series of actions in a few hours, which he had contemplated before,
indeed, but which he had contemplated as the work of many days,
and long and difficult intrigues.

Between ten at night and three in the morning, the young citizen
had received, from the druggist himself, the certainty of the Duke of
Burgundy's dftath, which had been obtained by the Prevot ; had formed
his determination at once, had arranged his plans with prompt deci-
sion, had assembled the ancient burgher guard in force in his court-
yard ; by a few brief and striking words had explained to them his
views and his schemes ; had carried all voices in his favour ; and,
finally, had seized every military post in the town, except the palace,
without bloodshed, while the regular soldiery had everywhere been
surprised and disarmed.

His last effort upon the magazine, the one of the greatest impor-
tance, had been effected, as sometimes happens, with more ease than
attempts which had seemed less difficult ; and, leaving the citizens

348 MART OF BURGUNDT.

who had accompanied him, to guard that post, he hastened home
through the solitary streets, not a little rejoiced to find, by the still-
ness of the whole city, that the silence and caution which had been
enjoined in the first instance were still preserved. No one had ar-
rived when he again crossed the threshold of his own door ; and
■whispering a few hasty orders to the servant who admitted him, in
regard to saddling horses, and preparing trustworthy messengers, he
entered the chamber where he was about to meet his fellow-citizens;
md casting himself back in a chair, covered his eyes with his hand,
and abandoned himself, for a moment, to deep thought. More than
one pang crossed his heart, as he contemplated the future ; but he
smothered them instantly ; and, banishing regret, he directed the
whole powers of his mind to consider the best means for obtaining
that object for which he had now irrevocably determined to struggle.

So deep, so intense was the meditation to which he yielded himself,
that Ganay and several others entered the apartment without his
perceiving their presence ; and it was only the voice of the druggist,
demanding if he slept, that roused him from his reverie.

"Sleep!" he exclaimed, starting up; "no, no! Who could sleep
on such a night as this ? Welcome, my friends, welcome ! Each sit
down, I pray : others will soon be here ; but it is not fitting that of
the few hours which are given us for action, even one minute should be
wasted in waiting for any man. Some things need long counsel ; in
others, little can be risked. Let us choose those first that are most
easily determined. Citizens of Ghent ! are you not resolved to re-
cover the liberties and privileges which have been torn from you by
the unholy hand of power?"

" We are! We are !" replied a number of stern voices around.

"Is it not requisite, then," continued Albert Maurice, " that you
should call your brethren of the other good towns of Flanders and
Brabant to join with and support you, in asserting the rights of all?"

" Beyond all doubt ! Let it be done !" was the answer.

" Well, then, by this time," said the young citizen, " four strong
horses stand saddled, ready to set out ; and four trustworthy messen-
gers are prepared to bear to Brussels, Ypres, Bruges, and Louvain,
our request that the worthy burghers of those great towns will send
us deputies to give force to our proceedings. My letters, written
nearly six months ago, when the battle of Morat was lost and won,
have prepared them to do so at a moment's warning. The gates are
now in our own hands ; shall the messengers set out?"

" The sooner they depart the better !" replied the rest ; and a few
lines hastily penned to each of the cities, were despatched without
farther delay.

Before all this was completed, a number of other citizens' had
arrived, and the chamber was almost full. Everywhere were to be
Jeen men with faces pale from anxiety and excitement; some armed
in hasty guise, with such armour as could be caught up in a moment ;
eome with their night gear scarcely laid aside; and each, as he entered,
gazing round upon the rest, with half wild and somewhat fearful
gbinces, as the light of the lamps dazzled their eyes, on entering from
the uark streets without. Gradually, however, as they beheld a num-
ber of friends and acquaintances all gathered together in the same
cause as themselves, the boldness which men derive from union began

MARV OF BURGUNDY. 149

to spread amongst them. Every one present had long before been pre-
pared, in some degree, for such events as were now taking place ; and,
while they had been taught to look to Albert Maurice as the man
from whose voice and conduct the rest of the citizens were likely to
take their tone, he had taken care to ascertain the sentiments of each
individual, whom he now called to consult with him in a moment of
such exigency. He well knew, indeed, that it is by no means a neces-
sary result, that the conduct of a large body of men will be regulated
by the personal opinions of each. The shades of thought and character
in different men are so infinite, that, when united, as in multitudes,
they produce combinations which defy previous calculation ; and
besides that fact, there is something in the very change of position,
from an isolated station to a place in a large body, which alters the
feelings of the persons themselves. Some, singly bold, are timid in a
multitude ; and some, cowardly as individuals, become even rash when
supported by numbers.

Albert Maurice trusted to himself, however, to give the impress of
his own mind to all the proceedings of the great burghers, and through
them to rule the people also : but he well knew that the task before him
would be to restrain rather than to excite ; for seldom, very seldom,
has a country, justly or unjustly, risen against the power that pre-
viously ruled it, without going infinitely farther than those who stirred
it up originally designed.*

As soon as he perceived that all whom he had called were present,
the young citizen at once determined to address them before any one,
else could interpose to give a wrong direction to their efforts. " Men
of Ghent," he said, " may I crave your patience for a moment? Cer-
tain news has just been received by our friend and fellow-citizen here
present," and he pointed to the druggist, " that in this last and fatal
battle, wherein he staked his country's welfare and shed his people's
blood in an unjust quarrel, Charles, Duke of Burgundy has paid
the forfeit of his obstinacy and ambition with his life. Now, men of
Ghent, who is there amongst us that does not feel that our rights
have been infringed, our privileges usurped, and our liberties trampled
on, by him who has gone to give an account of all the wrongs he has
so boldly committed? We all know it, and we all feel it; and there
is not an artisan, however humble, in all Ghent — nay, in all Flanders,
that is not preparing to take arms to vindicate the freedom of our
native land. That freedom, citizens, we may look upon as secure , for
never yet did a whole nation join heart and hand in asserting its
liberty, but it gained its object against all opposition. But, oh! my
friends, let us beware — let us be cautious — let us be wise— let us
be just — let us be merciful. Those who would guide a stirred-up
people through a successful insurrection, must be calm as well as bold,
and moderate as well as zealous. The wild horses of popular excite-
ment must be governed with a firm aad a clear eye, and strong rein,
or they will pass far beyond the golden goal of liberty, and rush into
bloodshed, anarch ~, and license. We take upon ourselves a great and
an awful responsiu 'ity; and every drop of unnecessary blood that is
shed in this great eiJbrt, will cry loudly to Heaven for vengeance on
the' head of the rash men who caused or suffered it to flow. Tho

0 The onlj exception that I know, is to be found in the French Revolution of 1838.

150 XARY OF BURGUNDY.

rway of all that vast and wealthy land which lately rested in the hand
of Charles, called the Bold, has now descended to a young and gentle
lady, who, if her counsellors be good "

" We will give her good counsellors !" cried some one beside him ;
but Albert Maurice proceeded : " Who, if her counsellors be good,
will, at our petition, not only restore us to our rights and privileges,
but will afford us some security that they shall never be infringed
again. But let us do nothing harshly. Let us proceed mildly and
legally, though firmly ; and first petition, as good and faithful sub-
jects, "for the redress of our wrongs, before we proceed to obtain it by
our own right hands. Such moderation, my friends, will gain us the
love and support of all good men — will prevent neighbouring princes
from interfering while we obtain our liberty, and will at once serve best
our cause, and satisfy the conscience of the most scrupulous."

" Methinks, Master Albert Maurice, you have already begun pretty
boldly," said one of the more moderate of the citizens : " I hear that
the gates and walls of the city have already been forcibly taken from
the duke's guard, and the soldiers have been disarmed."

''That, sir, was done," replied Albert Maurice, " solely for our own
security ; and had it not been done, our meeting now, or our petitions
hereafter, unsupported by any power of our own, would have been
utterly fruitless. It was done to prevent the princess from being car-
ried away from us before our liberties were secure ; it was done to
prevent the introduction of large forces into this town before we were
prepared to bid them defiance ; and, in doing it, we only asserted and
resumed the immemorial right of the citizens of Ghent to guard their
own walls and gates — aright which had been long unjustly usurped."

"It was wisely done! it was nobly done!" cried a number of
voices, in the midst of which Ganay the druggist stepped forward, and
said : " Friends and fellow-citizens ! all here present are bearers of
high offices in the several trades, and members of the great commune
of Ghent ; but we are meeting without form or order. Let us resolve
ourselves into a council, as a temporary government of the city ; and
as president thereof I here propose him whose able conduct, whose
patriotic zeal, and whose prompt activity, has already conducted us
thus far with triumphant success."

A murmur of applause followed, which soon rose into a loud and
unanimous assent to the proposal. Nor did Albert Maurice affect to
decline an office which he had previously determined to assume. His
thanks he expressed with manly eloquence, and assured his fellow-
citizens; with the convincing voice of true feeling, that the liberty and
prosperity of his native land should ever be the dearest wish of hia
heart, and the principal object of his endeavours.

As soon as this subject was discussed, an old man, one of the fathers
of the city, rose up, and addressed the new president. With a slight
touch of the monitory garrulity of old age- at least, most of those who
heard him thought it such he offered a word or two of caution to the
young man who had taken upon him so bold and high a part. " He
would not," he said, " urge him^to be more moderate in his views, for
he seemed to feel the necessity of moderation already; but he would
warn him, in the course that was before him— a course, the turns and
circumstances of which, none could yet tell — to beware of his own
teart — to guard against ambition, or revenge, or love s for he wag

KARY OFBURGUNDT. 161

young and ardent ; and that spirit must be either very cold or very
strong, which could resist the influence of some mighty passion when
under the excitement of great events."

Though Albert Maurice listened with attention, and felt, more deeply
than he suffered to appear, the justice of the good man's speech, yet
there were others who showed some degree of impatience, and evi-
dently thought it out of season. The old burgher perceived this
feeling, and, breaking off quickly, went on with the more immediate
matter before them. "It is evident, Master Albert Maurice," he said,
" that you have thought over all these events long and deeply before
this night ; and, indeed, who is there amongst us who has not so
thought? What, then, is the result of your consideration? What is
the first step that you advise us to take?"

" This," replied Albert Maurice : " to meet to-morrow early, at the
town-house, and there to prepare a petition, at once condoling with
the princess on the events which have placed the government in her
hands, and beseeching her to listen to the voice of her own heart, and
spontaneously to restore to the good towns of Elanders those rights
and privileges of which her father deprived them. Especially, let us
entreat her, in the first instance, to do away with that false and illegal
body of men, which, under her father's jurisdiction, and by his appoint-
ment, administered in this city — not justice, but the arbitrary will, of
the prince ; and to give us back our true and legitimate magistrates,
chosen by ourselves, from amongst ourselves, to dispense our own laws
to us and to our children."

While the full mellow voice of the young citizen touched thus
pointedly upon those subjects in regard to which the feelings and pas-
sions of the druggist Ganay were so highly excited, the eyes of the
unhappy father flashed like a living fire, and a small bright red spot
gathered in the centre of his sallow cheek, while his lip quivered as if
he could scarcely restrain the passion from bursting forth. The mo-
ment that Albert Maurice had done speaking, he started up from his
seat, and exclaimed in a quick, sharp, discordant voice, which trembled
with the very effort that he made to banish from its tones anything
like personal rancour.

" I second the proposal. Are we all agreed ?"

" We are," echoed the conclave.

"Now I," continued Ganay, "must offer my proposal, too. Listen
to me, men of Ghent. Our rights are our own — inherent, unchange-
able ; which the voice of no despot can wring from us ; which his
power may hold in abeyance, but which it can never destroy; which,
when even suspended, still exist in full force, and render everything
that is done in opposition to them unjust, illegal, criminal. I therefore
call upon you solemnly to arraign and to condemn those men, who,
chosen from ourselves by the late despot, Charles, became the instru-
ments of his tyranny against their own countrymen. The twenty-
six men, falsely calling themselves magistrates of Ghent — appointed,
not by the people of Ghent, according to ancient law and usage, but
by the Duke of Burgundy, contrary to all our inclinations and con-
sent— have, for nearly ten years, presumed to rule and judge, and
doom to punishment, and shed blood, within the walls of this city ;
for which, as traitors, oppressors, and murderers, unjustified in their
proceedings by any law or right, I claim their death, as the just

152 MARY OF BURGUNDY.

punishment fjr their crimes, and a due warning unto others in the
time to come."

As he spoke, his whole frame trembled with the angry passion
that was burning at his heart. His words flowed rapidly and clear;
and his face, with the bright dark eyes, flashing from beneath his
heavy-knitted brow, offered the very picture of eloquent revenge.
A murmur of doubtful import spread through his auditory; some
carried away by his passionate oratory, some unwilling to begin their
course with such a sweeping act of severity. Albert Maurice him-
self— sympathizing deeply with the feelings of the childless father,
yet resolved, upon every principle of reason and right, to oppose a
proposition which, he well knew, proceeded rather from the spirit of
revenge than a sense of justice — paused between his contending feel-
ings ; when to the surprise of all, good Martin Fruse raised up his
portly person, and, with one of those burst of generous indignation,
which sometimes rendered him almost eloquent, opposed himself
Strongly to the course suggested by his friend the druggist.

" No, no !" he exclaimed ; " no, no ! that will never do. Good God!
my fellow-citizens, shall it be hereafter said that the people of Ghent
rose up powerfully in defence of their own liberties, and made their
first act the slaughter of six-and-twenty defenceless men, who had
been acting under the belief that they were justified by the law ? If
any one was to blame it was the Duke Charles, not they; and good
sooth, I doubt, that, at the worst, you could prove they did not
legally hold their posts ; for, by my faith, we all consented that the
duke should appoint them, when we thought he was going to hang us
all. A cheap bargain Ave thought it then, when he was at our gates
with ten thousand men. But even were it not so, and had we not
consented, should we be the first to make widows and orphans in our
own city ? Should we shed more Flemish blood, when so much has
already flowed to no purpose ? Should we punish men for actions ill
which they believed there was no offence? Fie! fie! Take from
them their offices ; reprove them for having so far betrayed their
country as to accept the post they held from one who had no right to
give it ; and let them go back to their dwellings to mourn over their
fall. What say you, my fair nephew ? Do I judge aright ?"

" Most wisely, sir, as far as my poor judgment goes," replied
Albert Maurice. " None would show more rigorous justice towards
men who, perhaps, have been somewhat severe in the discharge of
their office, than I would ; but that it is clear that the citizens of
Ghent formally consented to their nomination by the duke, and,
therefore, that during his life, they were acting at least under legal
authority."

"But not after his death!" cried Ganay. "Charles, Duke ol
Burgundy, died on the fifth day of this month ; and three days after
his death my child was butchered by men whose only title to au-
thority had ceased. The cry of blood must and shall be heard ; and
if it be not — "

Whatever the druggist added, was muttered in so low a tone, that
no one distinguished its import. Albert Maurice, however, saw the
necessity of conciliating him, well knowing the influence he possessed
over the minds of many whose support was absolutely requisite to
6uccess in their undertaking. He now also began to experience how

afARY OF BURGUNDT. 163

difficult is t'ne task of binding into one mass a large body of men,
without any power over them but that -which is afforded by the
evanescent bubble, popularity. Eevenge, ambition, avarice, vanity,
pride, and every other passion common to the sons of man, he
knew must ever be fertile sources of disunion in assemblies where,
as in that over which he presided, each one feels that his individual
adhesion is of too great consequence to the schemes of the rest for
anything to be refused him, however unreasonable his request. But
he had yet to learn that the enchanter's wand, that stilled the very
angry seas themselves, would wave in vain over the unbridled pas-
sions of mankind.

"Master Ganay," replied the young citizen, seeing1 the impression
which had been made upon a great part of the burghers by the cer-
tain fact that the druggist's son had been condemned and executed
after the duke's death — "the case you mention is one totally distinct
from any of the rest, and must be considered and judged of apart.
Doubt not you shall have full justice done you ; and the day after to-mor-
row we will assemble in our public hall, and solemnly debate on what
course we must pursue in that respect. In the meanwhile, let us not
embarrass our present consultations with any point on which there
may be a difference of opinion : morning will soon be here. Our pro-
ceedings, then, are thus far determined: — first, to petition the prin-
cess for restoration of our rights : if she grant them, well ; but if by
evil counsellors she be persuaded to refuse, then to assert them with
our blood and with our fortunes, till the last man among us perish!
Am I right? Well, then," proceeded Albert Maurice, as a ready
assent followed his words, and many of the assembly rose to depart,
" to-morrow, by eight in the morning, let us meet in the town-hall ;
and, in the meantime, friends and fellow-counsellors of the good city
of Ghent, have I not your authority to provide for the guarding and
safety of the town ?"

"You have! you have!" was the general reply; "and now good
night!"

One by one the counsellors of the town of Ghent departed from the
apartment of the young citizen. But Ganay, the druggist, lingered
behind the rest. The conversation between him and Albert Maurice
was brief and rapid, but stern and to the point.

"Albert Maurice," said the druggist, "are we still one in pur-
pose ?"

" If you so will," replied the young burgher ; " but beware that you
bring nothing to divide our councils."

" Nay, rather, you beware that you stand not between the sword of
justice and its victim," rejoined the other ; " for, as I live, if you do,
my love for you will become something bitterer than hate, and more
than your ruin — the ruin of your cause, shall follow."

The eye of the young citizen flashed fiercely, as he was thus dared
in the first hour of power. " Mark me!" he said, grasping the arm of
his companion, and bending his majestic head over him, while he
fixed his full stern glance upon the sallow face of the other : " mark
me ! It is time that our mutual determination should be spoken ;
yours has already found voice, now hearken to mine. For the ser-
vice you may do to the cause that I hold dear, I will give a certain
way to your revenge. You see I understand you. But if you take

154 SIABF OF BUEGUNDF.

one ftep beyond that, and show me that you would rule our efforts
for your purposes, I will crush you or die. Man, you have met with
your master ! and, though you may have caused the misery of lordly
houses, the star of my destiny is above your scope!"

As Albert Maurice spoke, the cheek of the druggist turned even
paler than before; and he answered, in a subdued voice, "Ha! in-
deed! We do, then, know more of each other that I thought. But
this is all vain," he added, after a momentary pause ; " if you know
so much you know, too, that I love you. But, Albert Maurice, I
must — I will have my revenge."

" You shall have justice," replied the young citizen, "and I will
not oppose you; though I think reason and humanity, and a right
construction of the law, should save the unhappy men at whom you
aim. The day after to-morrow, however, plead your own cause be-
fore the council in the town-hall. I will be absent; and if they judge
for you, I will not interpose by word or deed."

The druggist paused, and thought for a moment. "Be it so," he
said, at length. "They must condemn them: and now for you,
Albert Maurice. Mark me ! There are two paths open before you.
The one which you seem choosing for yourself, leads to a long
struggle between the people and the throne, which, after nicely
balancing rights, and weighing tenderly the thousand grains of dust
that constitute all questions of government and policy, shall end in
nothing for the state, and your own death and ruin. The other, on
which I would guide you, conducts, by a few bold strides, to power,
to empire, and to love .' You see I know you, too ! Choose for your-
self, and let your actions speak the result. Farewell! I will be ever
by you side, to prompt you to your own advantage, even to the last
moment."

Tims speaking, the druggist quitted the apartment, and followed
tin.' rest of the citizens; while Albert Maurice remained in the soli-
tude of his own chamber, with his eyes fixed still upon the spot where
Ganay had stood.

"To power — to empire — to love!" he repeated, in a low tone
"How dexterously yon man knows how to mix the small portion
of leaven, calculated to turn and change the whole heart of him to
whom he speaks. To power — to empire — and to love!" and the
young burgher seated himself slowly, and turned his head towards
the shady side of the room, as if the very light of the lamps looked
into his heart, and disturbed the intense thoughts that were working
in the dark chamber of his bosom.

"No!" he cried, at length, clasping his hands together; "no! no!
no! My country, thou shalt be my first object! and if, in serving
thee, without one effort for myself, aught of good befall me person-
ally, I will receive it, only as a reward for working thy freedom; but
never shall the thought of my individual wishes mingle with my
aspirations for the benefit of my native land. Fiend ! how thou hast
tempted me !"

He then gave a moment or two to other ideas connected with his
situation at the time ; and the first blossom of that full harvest of
regrets, which every man, who sows the Cadmean seeds of civil strife,
is destined to reap in bitterness of heart, rose up m his bosom as he
thought of the fate of the unhappy men, whom he felt forced to yield

MAKY OF BURGUNDY. !55

to the revenge of G&nay, or to resign every hope of delivering his
country. It was the first sacrifice of better feeling he had yet been
obliged to make ; but the first is ever the augury of many more.
Albert Maurice, indeed, would fain have persuaded himself that it
was not a sacrifice. He strove to prove to his own mind that the
men deserved their fate. He called up instances of their severity — of
their cruelty ; and recapitulated to his own heart the specious sophis-
try of Ganay ; asserting that the act they had committed, however
just had been their sentence on the druggist's son, was illegal from
the previous death of him from whom alone they derived their power.
He reasoned, he argued in vain — his heart was unsatisfied ; when a
neighbouring clock, striking the hour of five, made him start from
his seat, and gladly take advantage of its warning voice, to cast away
thoughts that brought regret, in the busy activity of preparing the
city to hold firmly the power it had assumed.

CHAPTEE XXI.

We shall pass over the forenoon of the following day rapidly. The
news of her father's death reached Mary of Burgundy early in the
morning; and though she wept long and bitterly, her grief was now
more calm and tranquil than it had been while uncertainty remained
mingled with sorrow. More agitating tidings, however, had reached
the Lord of Imbercourt and the Chancellor Hugonet at a still earlier
hour : for, by daybreak, the first rumours of the disarming of the
soldiery, and the seizure of the gates and walls of the city by the
burgher guard, had been communicated to them ; and before they
could take any measures in consequence, the painful fact that every
post or defence in Ghent was in the hands of the citizens, had been
reported from all quarters. Eespect for the grief of the princess
caused them to withhold from her, for some hours, the knowledge
which they themselves possessed of the state of the city ; and it was
only when, by means of some other private agents, they received
information that the principal burghers of the town had assembled
in the town-house, and were voting a petition to the princess, pray-
ing a restitution of all those rights and privileges of which they had
been deprived by Duke Charles, that they found it absolutely neces-
sary to communicate to her, both what had occurred and what was
likely to follow.

The news affected Mary of Burgundy less than they had expected;
and, indeed, proved only a sufficient stimulus to rouse her from the
grief into which she had fallen.

"Fear not, my Lord of Imbercourt," she said, as she saw the
apprehension that overshadowed his countenance ; " fear not, I will
soon find means to quiet and satisfy the good people of Ghent. It
was only while the will and ordinances of my father were opposed to
my own inclinations, that I found any difficulty, or entertained any
fear, in regard to the tranquillity of the state."

" I hope, madam, and I trust," replied Imbercourt, " that you may
find it easy ; but a stirred-up population is like one of those ravenous
beasts, that seems to acquire a greater appetite by feeding largely.
I trust that the Lords of Kavestein and Cleves, with others to whom

156 MARY OF BURGUNDY.

I have despatched messengers, may soon arrive, and in sufficient,
force to overawe these insolent burghers ; so that you may be obliged
to grant nothing but that which is just and right, and be able to
check concession at the proper point. Hark, lady !" he added, as a
distant shout burst upon his ear, "the unmanly brutes allow you not
one day for sorrow : they are coming even now.'"'

Mary's cheek turned a little pale ; but she showed no other sign
of apprehension; and merely replied — "Let them come, my lord!
They shall find it difficult to conquer the love of Mary of Burgundy ;
for love is the only arms that I shall oppose to my subjects. Alas !
that they should ever be mine! I beseech you, my good lords, to
have the hall of audience fittingly prepared to receive the people,
who seem approaching fast. Have such guards and attendants
drawn up as may give us some show of state. Alice, my sweet
friend, seek out the noble duchess, and pray her to cast by her grief
for a moment ; for much do I need her presence and support in what
is about to occur."

The orders of the princess were promptly obeyed. Margaret of
York joined her in a few minutes. The hall of audience was prepared
as speedily as possible; and everything was ready for the reception
of the burghers before they reached the gates of the palace. The
deputation, consisting of about twenty persons, dressed in their
municipal robes, proceeded from the town-house on foot, followed and
surrounded by an immense multitude of the lower orders, shouting
loudly — "Ghent and liberty! Ghent and liberty! Long live the
noble syndics !" They soon arrived at the building called the Cows
du Prince; and some surprise, perhaps, was felt by the citizens, on
finding themselves at once admitted to the palace, without any ques-
tion, and ushered, through a line of armed guards, to the great hall
of audience. The general impression among them was, that the
counsellors of the princess, possessing a greater armed force than the
townsmen had been aware of, were determined to bring the matter
to an immediate decision; and, perhaps, even to arrest them in the
palace, for the events of the night before. This supposition was
rather increased by the appearance of the hall of audience, which
was also lined with armed attendants: and by the demeanour of
Imbercourt, Hugonet, and other counsellors, who stood with some-
what severe and frowning countenances on each side of the chair of
state, which now remained vacant, under the rich crimson canopy
that had so often overhung the stern, determined features of Charles
the Bold.

As soon as they had entered the chamber, the deputation paused,
uncertain to whom to address themselves. The counsellors neither
spoke nor changed their position ; and, for a few moments, there was
a dead, unpleasant silence, which no one chose to break. At that
instant, however, when the dumb confronting of the court and the
citizens was becoming even painful to both, the door by the side of
the throne was thrown open by one of the hussiers or door-keepers,
and Mary of Burgundy, leaning on the arm of Margaret of York,
preceded by some of the officers of the palace, and followed by two
or three female attendants, entered the apartment, and advanced
towards the chair.

She ascended the steps on which it was raised, but did not sa

MARY OF BURGUNDY. 157

down; and, turning towards the deputation of the burghers, she
bowed her head with a gentle inclination, while the novelty of her
situation, the feeling that she was taking possession of her dead
father's throne, and the difficulty of her circumstances, overcame her
firmness for an instant, and she burst into tears.

Wiping the drops rapidly from her eyes, she made a sign to the
Chancellor Hugonet, who immediately took a step forward, and said
—addressing the deputation of citizens, who still stood at the further
end of the room — " The high and mighty Princess, Mary, Duchess of
Burgundy, Countess of Flanders and Hainault, is ready to receive
any persons on behalf of her good town of Ghent."

There was a slight pause ; and then Albert Maurice, as president
of the provisional council, advanced towards the throne, and knelt on
one knee upon the first step. Mary extended her fair hand to him,
as he knelt, and with a flushed cheek and quivering lip, the young
burgher bent his head over it, while something very like a tear glit-
tered in his eye, too. In his left hand he held a roll of parchment ;
and, before he rose, he said — " Madam, I come to lay at your feet a
humble address of condolence, and petition, from your good and
faithful subjects, the citizens of Ghent. Is it your good pleasure
that I read it ?"

Mary bowed her head; and Albert Maurice, rising from his knee,
unrolled the parchment which he held, and read, in gentle and respect-
ful tones, the address which had that morning been agreed to in the
town-hall. The terms in which it was couched were as mild and
moderate as the young burgher, by his utmost eloquence, had been
able to procure. The citizens, in the language of grief and respect,
spoke of the high qualities of the late Duke of Burgundy, and touched
as lightly as possible upon those acts of arbitrary power and barbarous
harshness, which had deprived him of that love which the more noble and
generous parts of his character might have obtained from his subjects.
They continued, however, to notice his attacks upon the liberties of
the good towns of Flanders, in terms both severe and firm ; and they
petitioned the princess immediately to take into consideration the
consequences which such aggressions had produced, and to remedy
the wrong that had been done by her father.

While Albert Maurice read the petition, the deputation had gra-
dually advanced, and formed a little semicircle at a few yards distance
from the throne ; and when the young citizen had concluded, the
princess immediately replied, addressing herself to all: —

" I did think, my good friends," she said, in a tone rather sad than
reproachful, " that the day on which I first heard the sad news of my
poor father's death, might have been passed in privacy, sanctified to
mourning and to sorrow. I know, however, that communities are
little capable of feeling for the griefs and affections of individuals,
especially when those individuals are their princes; and, therefore,
laying by my sorrow, I come willingly to hear your wants and wishes,
and to assure you all of my firm resolve to do everything I can to
satisfy and to make you happy. In regard to the rights and privileges
of the city of Ghent, far be it from me, now or ever, to inquire why
they were restrained or abridged by your late sovereign lord, my
father ; or to renew old griefs and dissensions, by investigating who
was right or wrong in the times cast. Me, men of Ghent, you have

158 MART OF BORCUNDr.

never yet offended; you are my fellow-countrymen, therefore I fee!
for you : you are my subjects, therefore I love you. At once, then,
whether as a boon, or as a right, whether as your own due, or as a
testimony of the affection of Mary of Burgundy, take, hold, and use
wisely all those privileges and immunities whatever, which you can
prove that you have possessed at any time within fifty years of the
present day. Farther back let us not inquire, for it would lead us to
times when Ghent and Flanders, under the usurped domination of a
man who was raised from the dregs of the people, by the people's dis-
content, endured a grosser and more bloody tyranny than ever they
suffered from the most savage and cruel of their native princes."

" We thankfully accept your Grace's bounty," replied Albert
Maurice; "and, without derogating from our own inherent rights, we
willingly receive your free and generous confirmation of them, as a
grace and benefit conferred ; and so humbly take our leave."

" You will confer, my friends," said Mary, " with my chancellor
here present, in regard to all the particulars which you may claim,
and will have them clearly established and defined to the full extent
of the words that I have used."

The deputation were then permitted to kiss the hand of the prin-
cess, and withdrew ; and Mary, after giving one hasty glance round
the hall of audience, retired once more to indulge her grief in her own
apartments.

With her, and with the Duchess of York, the hours passed in lonely
mourning, only interrupted from time to time by an occasional call
to transact some of the necessary business of the state, or by the
tidings of some event which it was thought indispensable to commu-
nicate. In the streets and lanes of the city, however, the day went
by with all those signs which show an anxious and excited population.
Continual crowds collected in various parts of the town, now convers-
ing among themselves, now listening to some popular declaimer. The
busy and important were seen hurrying to and fro in every direction.
The song, the fiddle, or the cornemuse, were exchanged for pitiable
verses on the pitiable battle of Nancy ; and while one part of the citj
was overflowing with people, and rang with the sound of many tongues,
another showed streets totally deserted, the abode of silence and
solitude.

At length, towards evening, a strong disposition to riot and tumult
displayed itself. Whispers and rumours, originating no one knew
where, were spread rapidly amongst the crowd, tending strongly to
excite them to outrage. Some said that the council were bringing in
large bodies of soldiers; some that the nobles were arming their
attendants, and intended to repossess themselves of the gates. But
the strongest and most generally credited reports were directed
against the eschevins or police magistrates of the city, whose very
duties of investigation and punishment rendered them at all times
obnoxious to the lower classes, but who were now hated in a tenfold
degree, from the abrogation of the popular form of election in their
last appointment. In several districts petty tumults actually took
place ; whoever bore the appearance of either a noble or a lawyer
was insulted as soon as he appeared ; and the burgher guard, which
was more than once called out, with a very natural leaning to the
people from which it was selected, took merely such means of repres*

MARY OF BUKGUNDf. »&

Bion as dispeiswi the crowds in one spot, only to collect in larger
numbers in another.

In the meanwhile, Maillotin du Bac, as Prevot, and the druggist
Ganay, as one of the notables of the town, mingled with the crowds,
and harangued them with the apparent purpose of persuading them
to return peaceably to their houses. The first, indeed, was anything
but popular in the city; and some supposed that he was exposing
himself to outrage by the active part he took ; but it was wonderful
to see how readily he assumed the tone and deportment necessary to
captivate the people, and how speedily the multitude forgot his former
conduct. It is true that neither he nor Ganay in their speeches said
one word to appease the current of popular indignation, or to divert
it from the point to which it was tending. They used every sort of
common-place argument to induce the people to return to their own
dwellings. They told them that it would be much better, much safer,
much more prudent, to disperse, and to let things take their course ;
though they acknowledged, at the same time, that the esehevins, in
the discharge of their illegal office, had acted cruelly and basely.
Nevertheless, they said, that those instruments of tyranny would
doubtless be brought to justice, if they were not by any mean»
smuggled out of the city. In short, they did what may always be
done: excited the people in a far greater degree, while they affected
to tranquillize them; and pointed their fury to the very object from
which they pretended to turn it.

The troops which remained in the town, though totally insufficient
to overawe the citizens, or to repossess themselves of the walls and
gates, were numerous enough to hold out, for any length of time, the
palace or Cours du Prince, as it was called, which, according to the
custom of the day, was strongly fortified ; and which was, luckily,
fully provisioned. The attention, therefore, of the ministers of the
orphan princess was solely directed to adding temporary defences to
her dwelling, and to repairing any slight defect which time or over-
sight had produced, without attempting the vain task of putting down
the turbulent spirit which was manifesting itself in the city. No
hostility, indeed, was evinced by the populace towards the princess
or her attendants ; and servants were suffered to go to and from the
palace without the slightest molestation. But still the tidings of tu-
multuous movements, in various parts of the town, poured in through
the evening ; and, as Mary sat in a high chamber of a tall tower, long
since pulled down, but which then rose above most of the buildings
round, the distant shouts and cries caught her ear, and more than
once made her inquire the cause. Towards nightfall, Imbercourt was
summoned to her presence ; and she asked eagerly if there were no
means of pacifying the people.

" None, madam," replied the minister; " without, indeed, you could
bribe some of their demagogues ; and that would, of course, be merely
hiring them to create tumults hereafter, whenever they wanted a
fresh supply. I am afraid they must be suffered to have their way
for a time. In the end, the populace will see their own folly, and the
base selfishness of those that mislead them, and will return to quiet
and tranquillity of their own accord. In the meanwhile, thank God,
the palace is secure; so be under no apprehensions, madam, for w©
sould hold it out for six months, against any force they can bring."

160 MARY OP BURGUNDY.

"Oh, I fear not for myself, my lord," replied Mary ; "I fear for my
subjects and my friends. I beseech you, my lord, leave not the palace
to-night : they might murder you in your way to your own hotel."

" I do not believe, madam, that they have any ill-will towards me,"
replied Imbercourt : " I have never done them wrong, and have often
stood between them and the anger of their prince. But my duty
commands me to remain here, at least till the town is somewhat more
calm ; and I certainly will not quit the palace this night."

So saying, he withdrew; and Mary approached the lattice of the
room in which she had been sitting, and which commanded a some-
what extensive view over the city; though the objects that were
visible were rather the roofs of buildings and the spires of churches,
than the busy multitudes which she would fain have watched, herself
unseen. Every now and then, however, a glance was to be caught of
some of the manifold canals and squares of Ghent; and Mary threw
open the window, in order, ere the light faded away entirely, to gain
a view of any of the crowds whose shouts she heard. But the effort
was vain ; and turning away from the chilling blast of the January
wind, she closed the window, and was returning to her seat, when she
found that Alice of Imbercourt had followed her to the deep arch in
which the casement was situated.

"I wish, dearest lady," said her fair follower, "that you would take
the counsel of a simple girl, which, I have a fond belief, would be
better than that of all these grave signiors."

" Well, my Alice," replied the princess, with a faint smile, " what
would you have me do?"

"May I speak boldly, lady?" demanded Alice.

"Ay, indeed, as boldly as you will," answered Mary, whose heart
wanted some bosom into which to pour its anxieties and sorrows.
" But first, dear friend, send away those two girls, who sit moping by
the fire, sharing my distress, without feeling my grief. Bid the page
go light the lamps in the lower chamber, and tell them to take thither
their embroidery frames, and work diligently, while we two stay here
in the grey twilight, as dim and melancholy as my thoughts."

Her commands were speedily obeyed. "And now, Alice," she said,
as the other returned, " what would you have me do?"

" I would have you despatch a messenger this very night," replied
the young lady, boldly, "to the only person on whose arm and to whose
heart you can rely to defend and guard you in the present straight —
I mean to the Arch — ■"

"Hush, hush! Not for a universe!" cried Mary "Good Heaven!
•what would he deem me? No, Alice, no! you would surely never
advise me to such a step. Fie! fie! mention it not!"

" I knew that you would start away, my dearest mistress," replied
tier fair counsellor; "but you must hear me still. What can you do
better? What can you do so well? The circumstances in which you
are placed, the difficulties which surround you, do they not justify
such an act ? do they not render it wise and right, instead of indeli-
cate and bold ? The Archduke Maximilian was once plighted to you
by your own father ; and if ever two people loved each other — "

" Hush ! Alice, I entreat, I command," interrupted the princess. " It
must not, it cannot be. If such be your advice, speak no more: what 1
wanted was counsel how to tranquillize these unguiet people of Ghent"

MARY OP BURGUNDT. 161

"I had something to say on that score, too," replied Alice of Irnber-
court ; " but perchance, my advice will not be more palatable to you,
in regard to that matter, than in regard to the other."

" Nay, nay ; be not offended, Alice," answered Mary ; i; none can
judge of that on which you were speaking, but myself ; but, of this
business of Ghent, perhaps any one can judge better."

" Well, then, madam, I will say my say," replied Alice ; " and you
can follow my counsel or not, as you think best. You marked the
young burgher, with the furred robe and the gold chain, who read
you the address this morning? You must remember him — -as hand-
some a youth as ever lady's eye rested on."

" I scarcely saw him," said the princess ; " nor should have noticed
him at all, but that I think it was the same who, some three or four
months since, was accused before the council of high treason, and ac-
quitted himself most nobly."

" The same, exactly the same," replied Alice ; " his name is Albert
Maurice, as I hear ; and he bears the noblest reputation of any young
citizen of them all. I have heard even my own father declare, that
yon young man has too high a mind and too noble a spirit, for his
class and station."

" Well, what of him ?" demanded the princess ; " I fear me that his
noble spirit will work us little good ; for, from all I saw to-day, he
seems to lead the disaffected of the city."

"You marked him not as I did, madam," answered Alice: "never
mind what I saw, or what I fancied that I saw. He does lead all
parties in the city, I hear ; and I am fain to think, that had it not
been for him, that petition and address, as they call it, would have
had a ruder tone. Lady, that young man is well disposed towards
you and yours ; and I believe that he might be easily worked upon to
use his great influence to cure the present madness of the people."

"Indeed, I believe he is well disposed," said Mary; "for, I remem-
ber, by your father's counsel, I had him called back after the trial, and
besought him in private, to do his best to maintain peace and order
in the city."

" My father's counsel was wise, madam," replied Alice, with a quiet
smilo; " and his daughter's is just of the same piece. What I would
have you do now is what my father led you to do then. Send for this
Albert Maurice, and beseech him, fairly and gently, to do his best to
quiet the populace and to restore tranquillity. Appeal to his gene-
rosity— to his gratitude ; show him how frankly you granted the
petition of the citizens this morning; and, take my word, you will
make a convert and a powerful friend."

" With all my heart," exclaimed Mary, at once ; " but there is no
time to be lost: hie thee down to thy father, dear Alice; tell him what
I have resolved to do, and bid him send a messenger for the young
eitizen directly."

" Nay, nay, dear lady," answered Alice, smiling again, " that way
will never do. In the first place, I hear my father is not, just now,
the best beloved in the city, for suffering a young man to be executed
who had committed murder, and was condemned by the eschevins ;
and, besides that, I learned from one of my women but now, that he
had sent, in his own name, to this Albert Maurice and another of th.9
citizens, named Ganey, and that they refused to come."

162 MARY OF BURGUNDY

" Then, most probably, they -would refuse me, too," replied the
princess ; " and though Mary of Burgundy will do all that she can tt
make her people happy, she must not stoop to beg their presence, anc
be refused."

"No fear, no fear, madam," said Alice of Imbercourt; "but leavt
the matter to me, and I will answer for it, that, ere half an hour bt
over, the young citizen shall be standing here before you."

" What do you propose to do, then," demanded the princess.

" Merely to write a billet, desiring Master Albert Maurice, in th«
name of Mary, Duchess of Burgundy, to render himself at the palace
with all speed, in order to speak with his sovereign," was her fair at-
tendant's answer.

" Nay, but it may seem strange," said the princess ; " I hardly dare
to do so without speaking with your father."

" If you make it a matter for counsellors, lady," replied Alice, " all
our scheme fails, or worse may come of it than you suspect. I have
already heard the constable of the reitters and one of your Grace's
council regretting that they did not seize upon the deputation this
morning, as a pledge for the submission of the people. No, no ; he
must come in disguise, and must go in disguise. I will send the page
with the billet ; he is shrewd and active, and shall bring him in by the
postern on the canal. Nay, nay, lady," she added, seeing Mary about
to make some farther opposition, " I will take it all upon myself. I
will write the note, and send the page, and bid the sentry give him
admission on his return : and if aught is heard of it, it will but pass
for the trick of a mad-headed girl — and I have more to lose than you
too, my princess," she continued, laughing ; " for I have a lover who
could be as jealous as a spaniel dog, if I chose to let him."

Mary still hesitated, and probably might have refused her consent ;
but some nearer and louder shouts met her ear, giving evidence that
the crowds were increasing as the night came on, and determined her
to accede. Alice's proposal was agreed to accordingly; and, as every
moment was apparently adding to the tumult in the city, she proceeded
to put the scheme in execution immediately.

CHAPTEK XXII.

The torrent of business in which Albert Maurice found himself in-
volved, had occupied his time in such a manner as hardly to permit
of his giving much attention to the tumultuous assemblages which
took place, during the day, in various parts of the city. Popular
leaders, indeed, are apt to attach too little importance to those com-
motions which, being frequently raised by themselves with ease and
rapidity, they fancy they can allay with the same facility and power ;
but a time comes when they are to be undeceived, and it was ap-
proaching with Albert Maurice. Towards two o'clock the young citi-
zen had addressed the people in the market-place, and had easily in-
duced them disperse, by informing them that the princess had most
generously granted them, of her own accord, all that they could de-
sire. He had then, in the belief that all the other crowds would melt
away, in the same manner, before night, retired to his own dwelling ;
and, in the most remote and noiseless apartment which it contained,

MARY OFBURGUNDV. 163

hfid proceeded to make, with rapidity and decision, all those arrange-
ments on which depended the defence of the city against external
enemies, and the predominance of the popular party within its walls.
He wrote at length to all the municipal councils of the various towns
in Flanders ; he tooic measures for organizing a considerable national
force ; he sent express orders to the guard at all the gates, to refuse
admission to any party of armed men ; and he issued orders for the
fabrication of arms as speedily as possible, in order that the citizens
might be found in a state of preparation, if the privileges and liberty
they had regained should be menaced from without.

Thus passed the three hours of light that remained after his return
home ; and busy hours they were. At length feeling himself, notwith-
standing his great corporeal powers, somewhat wearied with the im-
mense exertions which he had made, he proceeded into the garden
attached to his dwelling, which formed a little terrace on the banks
of the Lys. As he stood there, turning his aching brow to the cool
wind, the full roar of the tumult in the city burst upon his ear, like
the distant sound of a stormy sea ; and, after listening for a few mo-
ments to the combination of discordant noises, which rose up from the
many streets and squares, he felt at once that some great change had
taken place in the popular mind since he had left the market-place ;
and, turning quickly back, he prepared to go forth and use all the
power he knew that he possessed to restore tranquillity. At his own
door, however, he was met by a boy, who instantly pronounced his
name, though it was now dark, and demanded to speak with him.
t " Who, and what are you, boy ?" demanded the young citizen.

" I bear you a billet from a lady," replied the youth ; " and you must
read it directly."

" A billet from a lady !" cried Albert Maurice, with a sneer curling
his handsome lip. " Go, go, my boy : this is no time for idle gal-
lantries. Give me the note, and get thee hence ; I will read it to-
morrow."

" Nay, but you must read it this moment," the other answered,
without giving him the note : " ay, and that in private, too," he added.
" So come, good sir, go back into your house ; and take it with reve-
rence and care, for it deserves no less."

" Thou art bold enough," replied Albert Maurice ; but at the same
time there was something in the deportment of the boy, so unlike that
of the common Love's messengers of those days, that he yielded to his
desire; and, turning into the house, strode quickly to the chamber
in which he had been writing, and in which a light was still burning.

The moment he had entered, the apparel of the page and a small
St Andrew's cross, embroidered on his left breast, at once showed
that he was a servant of the house of Burgundy. Instantly closing
the door, Albert Maurice took the note with every sign of reverence
and respect, and read it attentively by the light of the lamp. As he
did so, however, his cheek flushed, and then turned pale and flushed
again, and he demanded eagerly, " Who gave you this note, Sir Page ?"

" The Lady Alice of Imbercourt," replied the boy ; " and she bade
me lead you speedily to the postern on the river."

Albert Maurice paused and mused ; and though no heart that ever
beat in a human bosom knew less of fear than his, yet the ordinary
calculation of danger which every one makes when engaged in enter-

L

164 MART OF BURGUNDY.

prises of importance, forced itself upon his notice, and he could not
but feel that the step proposed to him was replete with peril. Was
it probable, he asked himself, that the princess should send to him at
that hour? And wa-s not the dispatch of the note he held in his
hand, much more likely to be part of a scheme framed by the Prevot,
or some of the inferior agents of the government, in order to get the
chief leader of the popular party, the president of the provisional
council, into their hands, as a tie upon the people ?

Yet, as he gazed upon the billet, it was evidently a woman's
writing ; and as he re-read the contents there was something in it all
which put prudence and caution to flight at once. Was not the very
name of Mary of Burgundy enough ? To be requested by her to visit
her dwelling in secrecy and disguise ! to see her, to speak with her in
private ! to bask in the light of those beautiful eyes ! to hear that
soft and thrilling voice ! The very hope was worth all the perils that
ever knight or paladin encountered ; and his re-perusal of the billet
determined him at once to go.

Where to find some speedy means of disguising his person was his
next thought ; but then, immediately remembering the monk's grey
gown in which he had already travelled so far, and which by some
accident had been left behind by his former guide, he instantly sought
it out, stripped off the furred robe which he had worn through the
day, and buckling on a sword and poniard under the frock, strode on
after the page, with that increased feeling of security which we all
experience when we know that we have the means about us of selling
our lives dearly, happen what will in the course before us.

'; Better follow at a short distance behind, good father/' said the
boy, as they proceeded into the street ; " you know your way towards
the back of the Cours du Prince. If we go separate we shall the better
escape notice, and you will find me on the narrow path beneath the
walls."

As he spoke thus he darted away, and Albert Maurice followed with
the hurried step of excitement and expectation. It was now com-
pletely dark ; and passing onward along the quay of the canals, and
through one or two of the many large squares of Ghent, he soon saw
enough of popular feeling to make him anxious to resume a garb in
which he might take measures for repressing the turbulent spirit that
was every moment gaining ground. At the corner of each of the
larger streets immense bonfires, blazing and crackling in the chill air,
at once lighted, and warmed, and excited the multitudes that assem-
bled round them. But this was not all ; wine, and ale too, that genuine
Flemish beverage, were circulating rapidly amongst the crowds of
men and women, whose class and appearance did not at all warrant the
supposition that their own means could procure, even on an extra-
ordinary occasion, such copious supplies of dear and intoxicating
liquors. All this excited a suspicion in the mind of Albert Maurice,
that some unseen agency was at work, to rouse the people to a far
higher pitch than he wished or had expected ; and at the same time,
he felt that such scenes of tumultuous rejoicing on the news of the
loss of a great battle, and the death of their bold and chivalrous sove-
reign, was indecent in itself, and must be bitter, indeed, to the child
of the dead prince. Such sights, of course, increased his speed ; and
hastening on as fast as possible, he soon found himself upon the nar-

EIAKY OF BURGUNDY. 166

row ledge of land between the fortified wall of the palace and the
river. But lie was alone ; the page was nowhere to be seen ; and
Albert Maurice began to suspect he had been deceived ; but, a moment
after, the appearance of the boy, hurrying up as fast as his less power-
ful limbs permitted, soon showed him that his own anxious haste had
outstripped even the page's youthful activity.

Although a sentry paraded the wall above, with his slow match
lighted, no challenge was given ; and three sharp taps upon the postern
door soon caused it to fly open, and admit them within the walls of
the building. Au inferior officer of the guard stood by, and held a
lantern to the face of the page as he entered. The boy endured his
scrutiny quietly ; but, to the surprise of the young citizen, he found
that the appearance of the page was received as a passport for himself.
The officer withdrew the lantern without farther comment, as soon as
he had satisfied himself in regard to the boy's person, and suffered
Albert Maurice and his conductor to enter the palace.

Up long and manifold staircases — through innumerable doors and
interminable passages, the page led the leader of the Gandois, and only
stopped at length, when both were out of breath, at a small, deep
doorway, where he knocked before he entered, making a sign to Albert
Maurice to pause. The boy was then told to come in, and remained
within for some minutes, while the young burgher continued in the
dark passage, his heart beating, as he thought of his near meeting
with Mary of Burgundy, with that thrill of expectation which would
seem to partake of the nature of fear, were it not almost always
mingled in some way with feelings, not only of hope, but of joy.

After a time the boy returned ; and, leading the young burgher to
another door, he threw it open, and admitted him into an apartment
fitted up with all the ostentatious splendour for which Charles of Bur-
gundy had been famous in the decoration of his palaces. It seemed to
have been a room peculiarly allotted to that prince's leisure moments ;
for all around hung various implements of sylvan sport, each orna-
mented in some way with the arms of Burgundy, and piled up against
the walls in the manner of trophies.

There is something strangely solemn in entering the chamber of
one lately dead. It seems more empty, more vacant and cold, than
when its master, though absent, is living. It appeals to our own feel-
ings and connects itself, by the thin gossamer threads of selfishness
which the human heart draws between our own fate and every exter-
nal event that befalls our fellow-men, with an after-period, when our
chamber shall be left thus cold and lonely, and our place be no longer
found amongst the living.

All spoke of the last Duke Charles, and of the bold rude sports of
which he had been fond. Even the sconce that held a few lighted
tapers was fashioned in the shape of a boar's head; and as the
young citizen entered the chamber, he felt that feeling of pity for,
and sympathy with, the deceased prince which nothing could have
inspired but his death: that common fate which breaks down all
that holds man from man, and first makes us feel our near kindred
to each other.

There was no one in the chamber; and the page, after telling Al-
bert Maurice that the lady would be with him in a moment, retired
and left him to think both of the living and the dead. His thoughts

166 MARY OF BURGUNDV.

of the latter, however, soon ceased ; for in this active life the solemn
impressions are naturally the most transitory, and the expectation of
meeting Mary of Burgundy soon absorbed the whole. He had no
time to analyse his feelings, or to examine with microscopic accuracy
the workings of his own heart. Since the day when he had first seen
her in the market-place her image had become connected with almost
every thought that had passed through his mind. The name of the
princess, and her conduct in all the events of the day, of course
formed a constant part in the conversation of the people ; and when-
ever she was mentioned, the fair form and the mild liquid eyes rose
to the sight of the young burgher, and the sweet melodious tones ot
her voice seemed to warble in his ear. He had refused to let
his own mind inquire what was going on in his bosom ; but the
words of Ganay had, perhaps, in some degree, opened his eyes
to his feelings ; and the sensations which he experienced while
waiting her coming in that chamber tended still more to undeceive
him.

" What, what was he doing ?" he asked himself: " encouraging a
passion for an object beyond his reach." But even while he so
thought, a thousand wild and whirling images rushed across his
brain — of triumph, and success, and love. But how was it all to be
obtained? By overthrowing her power to raise himself into her
rank ; by overturning the institutions of his country ; by risking the
effusion of oceans of blood, and by inducing months of anarchy?
Still these were the only means by which he could ever hope to win
the hand of Mary of Burgundy ; and he asked himself, would such
means win her love ? Even were he to give way to the towering
ambition, which was the only passion that had hitherto struggled
with patriotism in his bosom — the only one which he had feared
— would it obtain the gratification of that love which was now ris-
ing up, a stronger passion, still destined to use the other as its mere
slave ?

Such feelings as I have said rushed rapidly through his brain,
while expectation mingled with the rest, and made his heart beat till
it almost caused him to gasp for breath. These sensations were
becoming well-nigh intolerable, when the door opened, and Mary ol
Burgundy, followed a step behind by Alice of Imbercourt, entered
the apartment, and the door was closed. The princess was still pale
with grief; but there was a fitful colour came and went in hei
cheek, that was far lovelier than the most rosy health. Her eyes,
too, bore the traces of tears ; but their heaviness had something
touching in it, which, perhaps, went more directly to the heart than
their brighter light.

With a flushed cheek and agitated frame the young burgher ad-
vanced a step, and made a profound inclination of the head as the
princess entered, not well knowing whether, when received in so
private a manner, to kneel or not. But Mary, after pausing a mo-
ment, with a doubtful glance, as her eye fell upon the monk's frock
with which he was covered, held out her hand for him to kiss as hei
subject, a custom then common to almost all ladies of sovereign sta-
tion ; and the young citizen at once bent the knee, and touched that
fair hand with a lip that quivered like that of a frightened child,
He then rose, and stepping back, waited for Mary to express hei

MARY OP BURGCNDX". 167

commands, though his eye from time to time was raised for a single
instant to her face, as if he thought to impress those fair features
still more deeply on the tablet of his heart.

" I thank you, sir, for coming so speedily," said the princess, " for,
in truth, I have much need of your counsel and assistance."

" I trust, madam, you could not entertain a doubt of my instant
obedience to your commands," replied Albert Maurice, finding that
she paused.

" The only thing which could have led me to do so," said the prin-
cess, " was your refusal to come at the bidding of my faithful friends,
the Lords of Imbercourt and Hugonet."

" There is some great mistake, madam," replied the young citizen,
in surprise ; " the noblemen, to whom your Grace refers, have never
signified any wish to see me. Had they done so, I should have come
at their request, with the same confidence that I have obeyed your
commands."

" Alice," cried the princess, turning to her fair attendant, " my in*
formation came from you. I hope it was correct."

"All I can say, fair sir," said Alice of Imbercourt, advancing a
step, and applying to the young burgher the term that was generally
used in that day, from noble to noble — " all I can say, fair sir, is,
that I heard my father, the Lord of Imbercourt, despatch a messen-
ger this day, at about three of the clock, to entreat Master Albert
Maurice and Master Walter Ganay to visit him at the palace imme-
diately ; and I heard, scarcely an hour ago, by the report of one of
my women, that a direct refusal had been returned."

" Not by me, lady, certainly not by me," replied Albert Maurice.
" Since the hour of two, this day, I have been in my own cabinet
busily engaged in writing, and know but little of what has passed in
the city. But assuredly no messenger has ever reached me to-day
from the palace, except the page who brought me the command,
which I am here to obey. But you say another name was coupled
with mine. Perhaps that person may have returned the uncourteous
refusal of which you speak."

"I am very sorry for it, then," answered Mary of Burgundy;
" for the matter on which I desired to see you, sir, would be much
better transacted with men and statesmen than with a weak women
like myself."

" Your pardon, madam !" exclaimed Albert Maurice. " If what
you would say refers to the city of Ghent and its present state, much
more may be done by your own commands, expressed personally to
myself, than by an oration of the wisest minister that ever yet was
born. Statesmen, madam, are often too cold, too prudent, too cauti-
ous, to deal with the frank multitude, whose actions are all passion,
and whose motives are all impulse. But, oh! madam, there is a
natural, generous, gentle feeling about all your demeanout, Trota
your lightest word to your most important deed, which is well cal-
culated to make our hearts serve you, as well as our heads or our
hands."

The young burgher spoke with a fervour and an enthusiasm that
called the blood up for a moment into Mary's cheek. But as the
chivalrous courtesy of the day often prompted expressions of much
more romantic admiration, without the slightest further meaning than

iitii MAR1" OF BUSGUNDT.

mere ordinary civility, Mary of Burgundy saw nothing in the con-
duct of the young citizen beyond dutiful and loyal affection. The
possibility of her having raised a deeper or more tender feeling in the
bosom of her subject never oncecrossed her thoughts. It was to her as
a thing impossible ; and, though she certainly felt gratified by the fer-
vent tone of loyalty in which Albert Maurice expressed himself, she
dreamed not for a moment that that loyalty could ever become a
warmer feeling in his breast.

" 1 trust, sir," she replied, " ever to merit the opinion you have
expressed, and to keep the love of my good people of Ghent, as well
as that of all my subjects. But, indeed, the conduct that they are
now pursuing evinces but small regard either for my feelings or my
interest, nor much gratitude for the first willing concession that I
have made in their favour, You say, sir, you know little that has
passed in the city since an early hour, listen, then to the tidings that
have reached me."

Mary then recapitulated all that she had heard concerning the
tumults in different parts of the city ; and a conversation of consi-
derable length ensued, which — from all the important and interesting
circumstances discussed, from the free and unceremonious communi-
cation which it rendered necessarj', and from the continual bursts of
high and "generous sentiments, upon both parts, to which the great
events they spoke of gave rise — brought all the feelings of the young
citizen within the circle of the one deep, overpowering passion which
had been long growing up in his bosom. If he came there doubting
whether he loved Mary of Burgundy, before he left her presence his
only doubt was, whether there was anything else on earth worth liv-
ing for but the love he felt towards her.

Such thoughts had their natural effect both on his appearance and
demeanour. He still 'maintained that tone of deep respect due
from a subject to his sovereign ; but there was a free grace in all
his movements, a brilliant energy in all he said, a spirit of gentle,
chivalrous loyalty in all his professions, inspired by the great excite-
ment under which he spoke, that raised the wonder and admiration
of Mary herself, though still no one dream of bolder aspirations ever
crossed her imagination.

The chamber in which this conference was held was turned towards
the river, rather than to the square before the palace; and the shouts
which had made themselves loudly audible in the apartments from
which Mary had just come, had hitherto been less distinctly heard
where she now stood. But, in a moment after, the multitudes which
had assembled in other places seemed directing their course over a
bridge that lay a little higher up the stream, and the sounds came
with redoubled force. Shouts, cries, and songs of every kind, were
borne along with the wind to the chamber in which the princess was
standing ; and, pointing to the casement, she bade the young citizen
open it, and hearken to what was passing without.

Albert Maurice did so, and, in listening, his cheek became alter-
nately pale and red ; his brow knitted, and his eye flashed ; and,
turning to the princess, he replied, "I know not, madam, what they
have done, or what they are about to do, but certainly some sort of
insanity seems to have seized upon the people. However, I will this
instant go forth, and, as I live, if they have committed the crimes cf

MARY OF BURGUNDY. 169

Hiich I am led to fear they are guilty, from some of the cries I have
just heard, the perpetrators shall meet the pseishment they deserve."

He turned towards the door as he spoke, but Mary desired him to
pause. " Stay, stay, sir, a moment," she said : " Alice, bid the page
gee that the way is clear."

The young lady opened the door, and whispered a few words to the
boy, who waited in the passage beyond, and who instantly proceeded
to ascertain that no change had taken place to obstruct the burgher's
egress from the palace. Scarcely was he gone on this errand, however,
when a pale, reddish glare began to pour through the open window,
waxing stronger each moment ; and Mary, whose face was half turned,
towards it, started forward, exclaiming, " Look, look ! Good Heaven,
they have set fire to the city !"

Albert Maurice sprang to the casement also ; and, as with his
right hand he threw further open the lattice, his left rested for a
single moment on that of Mary of Burgundy, which she had accident-
ally placed upon the sill of the window. It was but for an instant, yet
a thrill passed through his whole frame that made his brain seem to
reel.

But he had no time to indulge such thoughts. A bright pyramid
of flame was at that very moment springing up through the clear
night air, affording a strange and fearful contrast to the pure sweet
beams of the early moon. Kedder and redder the baleful glare arose, as
if striving, to outshine the moonlight, and streaming over the city, dis-
played the dark black masses of the buildings ; wall, and roof, and
tower, and spire, standing out in clear relief upon the bright back-
ground of the blaze. Thence gleaming on, the two lights were seen
flashing together upon the river, amidst the innumerable black spots
formed by the boats, in many of which a number of human figures
might be descried, gazing with upturned faces at the flame. The
wooden bridge, too, with the crossing and interlacing of its manifold
piles and beams, appeared at a little distance beyond, a piece of dark;
fine tracery upon the glittering mass of the stream ; and there too, an
immense multitude were to be observed, looking on calmly at the fire
which was consuming some of the finest buildings in the city.

All this was gathered by the young citizen at one glance.

"They have set fire to the prison and the hall of justice," he cried,
divining in an instant, both from the direction of the fiames, and the
cries he had before heard, the crime which had been committed.
" This must be put a stop to ! Madam, farewell. When you shall
hear to-morrow of the events of this night, you shall either learn that
I am dead, or that I have done my duty."

The page had by this time returned ; and Albert Maurice followed
him with a rapid step through the same passages by which he had
been conducted to his interview with the princess. Just as they had
reached the ground floor of the castle, however, there was the sound
of a coming step. The boy darted across the corridor in a moment,
and Albert Maurice had but time to draw the cowl of his monk's
{own over his head, when he was encountered by the Lord of Imber«
Sourt, advancing with a hasty step towards the apartments of th«
princess.

The young citizen, with all his feelings excited by what had just
passed, was both fearless and careless of any mortal thing, and, mak-

170 MABY OF BURGUNDY.

ing slight way for the nobleman to pass, was striding rapidly on after
the page ; but Imbercourt caught him by the arm, exclaiming, " Who
are you, sir ? and what do you here ?"

" I do the errand on which I am sent," replied the young citizen,
" and interrupt no man. Unhand me, sir ; for I am not to be stayed."

" Not till I see your face," said Imbercourt sternly : " your voice I
should know. But that form, I doubt me, is no monk's."

As he spoke he raised his hand towards the cowl which covered
the head of the young citizen. But Albert Maurice shook off his
grasp, saying, " Man, you are unwise ! Stay me further at your peril."

" Ho ! a guard without there !" shouted the Lord of Imbercourt,
till the whole passages rang, and cast himself immediately in the
path of the burgher. But Albert Maurice seized him in his power-
ful grasp, and, with one effort sent him reeling to the further part of
the corridor, where he fell almost stunned upon the floor.

"Without a moment's pause, the young citizen darted through the
door by which the page had disappeared, traced without difficulty
the passages which led to the postern, passed unquestioned by the
sentry who was conversing with the boy, and, in a moment after, was
standing upon the terrace without the palace walls.

Casting off the monk's gown, he rolled it hastily up and threw it
into the water ; and then, striding along the narrow quay, between
the Cours du Prince and the river, he directed his way at once to-
wards the bridge. It was still covered with people ; and some one,
recognizing him as he came upon it, pronounced his name, which
was instantly spoken by a hundred other voices. Still Albert Mau-
rice passed on, forcing his way through the crowd, but marking at-
tentively the various countenances, as he went, by the light which
the flames of the burning buildings cast upon them. There were
many he recognised, but he spoke to none for some moments, till he
came to a stout honest-looking clothworker, near whom he stopped for
an instant.

" Are you ready to obey my commands, Gibelin?" he demanded.

"To the death, Master Albert," replied the other; "the rogues
have set fire to the hall of justice."

"I see," answered Albert Maurice; "follow me thither, and, as
you go, collect as many as you can who will obey without question."

He then strode on, stopping from time to time at the various
crowds, wherever he recognised a person on whom he could depend.
"With each of these a momentary conversation took place, of the
same nature as that which he had held with the man he called Gibe-
lin. To some, however, his address was much more brief. To others,
merely, " Follow me, Kold ! follow me Gastner !"

His commands were instantly obeyed ; those whom he charged to
collect more, were successful in doing so ; and as he made his way
forward, a body of two or three hundred men, gathered in this man->
ner from the different crowds, continued pushing their way after him
in an irregular manner, up the great street, in which the old prison
and hall of justice were situated. Those buildings had been built so
as to retire a little from the general facade of the houses ; and, being
placed exactly opposite to each other, left a sort of square between
them. The edifices on both sides were now on fire ; but notwith-
•tanding the intense heat, the place or square was filled to overflow-

MART OF BCBGUNDY. 171

ing with people, -whose appearance and occupation seemed altogether
those of devils in human form. The blaze of the burning buildings
cast upon their swarthy and excited countenances, disfigured as they
already were by drink and passion, a glare that was perfectly infer-
nal. Loud shouts of exultation, or rather screams of triumphant
hatred rent the air : and, round about the square, suspended by
the neck to the long stone water-spouts which then distinguished the
city of Ghent, were to be seen a number of human figures, quivering
and convulsed in the agonies of death, while the demon yells of the
populace hailed the contortions of their victims with horrible delight.

Such, it is well known, was the death of the unhappy eschevins,
whom Charles of Burgundy had appointed for the city of Ghent ;
but the vengeance which was immediately taken on some of the perpe-
trators of that cruel act is not so generally recorded. Albert Maurice
found the multitude in the first exultation of the barbarous feat they
had committed ; and many of those who had taken a leading part there-
in were still making a parade of their activity. The young citizen,
however, hesitated not a moment ; but striding up to a wretch who
held the end of one of the ropes used as the means of inflicting death
upon the eschevins, he seized him at once by the collar of his jerkin,
and dragged him towards the middle of the square.

A momentary movement was made by the people to resent this in-
terference, and to rescue their comrade ; but he was instantly passed
from the hands of Albert Maurice to the trustworthy followers whom
he had called together, with the words, " To the town-house !" The
next moment the young citizen, without appearing even to see, or
notice the threatening aspect of the people, again strode through the
midst of them, and made another prisoner of a better class, thunder-
ing no measured terms of reproach upon him as he cast him back into
the hands of those that followed. The multitude now perceived that
amongst themselves, in every part of the square, there were persons
of their own rank and appearance, acting with the young burgher,
whose name, never mentioned by any of the citizens without respect and
applause, also began to circulate rapidly amongst them. Even those
most bent upon evil, not knowing who was prepared to support and
who to oppose them, lost confidence in themselves. Fear, the most
contagious of all diseases, seized them ; and, one by one, they mada
their way from the scene of their criminal excesses. Those on the
outside of the mass felt those within pressing to escape, and catching
the alarm, began to run also ; so that in a few minutes, Albert Mau-
rice, and the men who had followed him, alone remained in the
square, together with three prisoners, while a fourth had been hur-
ried away.

To cut down the bodies of the unhappy men who had become the
victims of popular fury was the proceeding of the burgher and his
companions ; but as all aid in their case was found to be in vain, the
attention of Albert Maurice was soon turned to prevent the conflagra-
tion from spreading further than the public buildings to which it had
been communicated. As they were very m.*ch isolated in their situa-
tion, this object was easily effected ; and, as soon as it was accom-
plished, the young citizen proceeded with hasty steps towards the
town-house, where he found a number of the municipal officers in
•omewhat lengthy debate concerning the measures to be pursued foe

172 X.IRY OF BUBGDSBT.

tranquillizing the city. The superior mind of Albert Maurice in-
stantly brought all wordy discussions to an end; and while armed
parties of the burgher guard were despatched with peremptory orders
to disperse the crowds, the attention of those who now ruled in Ghent
was called to the case of the ruffians taken redhanded in the crime
they had committed. The ancient laws of the city were hastily con-
sulted; were found to be conclusive in regard to their guilt and
punishment ; a confessor was summoned; and ere daybreak the next
morning, the four persons who had acted the most prominent part in
the death of the eschevins had tasted the same fate before the town-
hall of Ghent.

With a sternnesss which formed no part of his original nature, but
which grows sadly and destructively upon the human heart in such
scenes of excitement and violence, Albert Maurice with his own eyes
eaw the decree of the municipal council carried into effect ere he trod
his way homeward. But as soon as the execution was over, he re-
turned to his dwelling ; and, exhausted with all he had gone through
iuring the last eight and forty hours, he cast himself upon his bed,
And slept.

CHAPTER XXKL

We must now, once more, change the scene ; and, leaving Ghent to
proceed step by step through all the mases of anarchy and confusion,
which arc sure for a time to succeed the overthrow of established
authority, we must trace the events which were occurring to some of
the other personages connected with this true history.

Once more, then, let us turn to the forest of Hannut, which now, in
the depth of winter, offered a very different scene from that which it
had displayed either in the full summer or the brown autumn. It was
early in the morning of the 20th of January ; and, except on the scat-
tered beeches which, mingling here and there with the oak, and the
elm, and the birch, retained their crisp brown leaves longer than any
of the other trees, not a bough in the wood, but, stript of all that orna-
mented it in the warmer season, was encrusted with a fine white
coating of glistening frost-work. Little snow, indeed, covered the
ground, and that which had fallen was too hard frozen to have any
tenacity, but — drifted about the forest in a fine white powder, lodged
here and there amongst the withered leaves, or collected in thick
sweeps upon the dingle side — it retained no form but that given to it
by the wind ; so that the deep footprint of the stag or boar was effaced
almost as soon as made, and the only mark by which the eye of the
most experienced huntsman could have traced the lair of his quarry,
would have been by the hoar frost brushed off the boughs of the
thickets in the animal's course through the wood.

The morning was as clear and bright as if the sun were just start-
ing from the dark pavilion of the night, to run his race of glory
through the long course of a summer's day, but the wind, whistling
keenly through the woods, and tingling on the cheeks of the early
forester, told that the sharp reign of winter was in the height of it/
power.

In a wide, open, grassy spot, about half a mile from the high road
to Louvain, were collected, on the morning to which I refer, about a

KABy OF BURGUNDY. 173

dozen of our good friends the green riders. One or two were on
horseback ; but the greater part had dismounted, and were employing
themselves in all the various ways which men devise to warm them-
selves on a winter's morning. They were evidently waiting for som<
one ; and though the people who are watched for by such gentry, ar«
not generally in the most enviable situation in the world, yet, on the
present occasion, the freebooters seemed to have no hostile purpose in
view, and spoke of the person they expected as one of themselves.

" Cold work he will have of it, Master Matthew," said one of the
adventurers, addressing the florid, white-haired old man, whom we
have had occasion to notice somewhat particularly in the cavern.

" By my faith !" replied the other, " when anything disagreeable is
to be done, he does not spare himself."

" Ay, but such is the leader for us," rejoined the other. " Think
you he will be long? It is mighty cold, and the horses are half
frozen."

"Hark!" cried his companion, "that clatter may answer your ques-
tion. By the Lord! he is coming down the hill at a fearful rate, for
so slippery as it is. I trust he is not pursued. Stand to your arms,
my men, and be ready to mount !"

As he spoke, the sound of a horse's feet at full gallop was heard
through the clear frosty air ; and, in a moment after, along the little
road— -which wound away from the open space where the adventurers
were collected, over the side of a steep acclivity — was seen a man on
horseback, darting down towards them, without the slightest apparent
regard to the sharpness of the descent or the slipperiness of the road.
He was armed like themselves, but with the distinction, that instead
of the open basinet, or round steel cap, without visor, which they wore,
his head was covered by a plumed casque, the beaver of which was
down.

He drew not a rein till he was in the midst of them ; then, with one
slight touch, checked his horse and vaulted to the ground. The haste
in which he had arrived was now equalled by the rapidity of his
words, as he gave a number of different orders to the men who sur-
rounded him, clearly and precisely, but with a celerity which showed
that no time was to be lost.

" Matthew, my good lieutenant," he said, laying his hand upon the
shoulder of the old man, " who is fittest to send to Germany, on an
errand to a prince ?"

" Why not myself?" demanded the adventurer.

" Because I want you here, and cannot do without you," replied the
chief.

" Well, then, send Walter there," rejoined the old man ; " he is a
Frenchman, and courtly in his way."

" Courtly and honest, too," added the "Vert Gallant, " which is a
wonder. There, Master Walter, take that letter to the Bishop of
Triers. You will find him at Cologne with the bishop of that city.
There, mount and be gone ! you know your way. Here is a purse of
gold to pay your expenses. The bishop will send you on to the arch-
duke. The Germans are frugal ; therefore be not you over fine. Yet
spare not the florins where it may do honour to him that sent you.
Away!"
"You, good Matthew, yourself," continued the Vert Gallant, "speed

174 MARY OF BURGUKDY.

like lightning to Ghent; but cast off your steel jacket, and lobe me
yourself like the good burgher of a country town. Seek out your old
friend Martin Fruse : confer with him, and with his nephew Albert
Maurice ; they are now all powerful in Ghent. Bid them beware of
Louis, King of France. Tell them it is his purpose to force the Prin-
cess Mary into a marriage with his puny son, and to make her yield
her fair lands into his hand, that he himself may seize them all when
death lays hold upon his sickly boy. Bid them oppose it by all means,
but by none more than by delay. Risk not your person, however ;
and if you cannot speak with them in safety, write down the message,
and have it given by another hand. You Frank Van Halle — you are
bold and shrewd, though you have but little speech : follow Matthew
Gournay, habited as his man ; but when you are within the walls of
Ghent, find out some way of speech with the princess ; and, whether
in public or in private, give her that ring, with this small slip of paper.
Then leave the city as quickly as you may."

" I doubt me it will be sure death ?" replied Van Halle, looking up
with an inquiring glance.

"What! you afraid, Van Halle!" exclaimed his leader; "but go;
there is no fear."

"Afraid! No, no," answered the man; "but I only thought, if I
were to die, I would go home first, and, with Martin of Gravelines and
Dick Drub-the-Devil, would drink out the pipe of sack I bought:
pity it should be wasted."

" Keep it for another time," said the Vert Gallant, " for, by my
faith, your errand to Ghent will never stop your drinking it."

" Well, well, if I die, tell the other two to finish it," rejoined Van
Halle ; " pity it should be wasted ;" and so sprang on his horse.

" Hold, Matthew," cried the Vert Gallant, as the two soldiers were
about to depart without more wdrds ; " meet me five days hence in
the wood between Swynaerde and Deynse. So lose no time. You
know the red cross near Astene."

The two instantly rode off; and the Vert Gallant then turned to
the others, and continued his orders for marching the whole force he
had under his command, which seemed to be considerable, into the
woods in the neighbourhood of Ghent.

Those woods, though then very extensive, and covering acres of
ground which are now in rich cultivation, were nevertheless too small
to afford perfect shelter and concealment for such a large body of
adventurers as had long tenanted the vaster and less frequented
forest-tracks near Hannut, unless the entire band were subdivided
into many smaller ones, and distributed through various parts of the
country. All this, however, was foreseen and arranged by the leader
of the free companions; and it is probable that he also trusted to the
distracted state of the country — throughout which anything like
general police was, for the time, at an end — for perfect immunity in
his bold advance to the very gates of the capital of Flanders.

All his orders were speedily given, and one by one his companions
left him, as they received their instructions, so that at length he
stood alone. He paused for a moment on the spot, patting the neck
»f his strong fiery horse ; and — as men will sometimes do when they
fancy themselves full of successful designs, and are excited by the ex-
pectation of great events — addressing to the nearest object of the

MARY OF BURGUNDY. 17ft

brute creation those secret outbreakings of the heart, which lie might
have feared to trust in the unsafe charge :>:? human beings.

"Now, my bold horse, now," he exc*.- ••■«jii, "ihe moment is come,
for which, during many a long year, I have waited and watched. The
star of my house is once more in the ascendant, and the reign of
tyranny is at an end; let him who dares stand between me and my
right, for not another hour will I pause till justice is fully done."

While he was thus speaking, a sort of slight distant murmur came
along, so mingled with the whistling of the wind, that he had to listen
for some moments before he could ascertain whether it proceeded
merely from the increased waving of the boughs occasioned by the
gale rising, or whether it was the distant sound of a number of per-
sons travelling along the road which he had just passed.

He was soon satisfied ; and as he clearly distinguished voices, and
the jingling tramp of a travelling party of that day, he sprang upon
his charger, leaped him over a small brook that trickled half-congealed
through the grass, and plunged into a deep thicket beyond, the bushes
and trees of which were of sufficient height to screen him from the
observation of the passengers.

The party whose tongues he had heard soon came to the spot where
he had lately stood. It comprised about thirty people, all well armed
and dressed splendidly, bearing the straight cross, which at that time
distinguished France from Burgundy. The magnificent apparel of
the whole body, the number of the men-at-arms of which it was prin-
cipally composed, together with certain signs of peaceful dispositions
on their own part, evinced at once, to the practised eye that watched
them, that the cavalcade which came winding along the road consisted
of some envoy from France and his escort ; furnished, probably, with
those letters of safe-conduct which guarded them from any hostile
act on the part of the government of the country through which they
passed, but prepared to resist any casual attacks from the lawless
bands that were then rife.

Not exactly at the head of the cavalcade — for two stout archers,
armed at all points, led the way — but at the head of the principal
body, appeared a small, dark, ill-featured man, whose person even an
extraordinary display of splendour in his apparel, sufficed not to render
anything but what it was, insignificant. Velvet, and gold, and
nodding plumes, could do nought in his favour; and the only thing
which made his appearance in any degree remarkable, was an air of
silent, calm, and determined cunning, which had in it something fearful
from its very intensity. One gazed upon him as on a serpent, which,
however small and powerless in appearance, inspires terror in much
mightier things than itself, from the venom of its fangs.

He rode on quietly, speaking little to any one ; and that which he
did say was all uttered in a calm, soft, insinuating tone, which corres-
ponded well with the expression of his countenance. The rest of the
party laughed and talked with much less ceremony and restraint than
the presence of so dignified a person as an ambassador might have
required, had he been by state and station fit to have inspired respect.
Such seemed not to be the case in the present instance ; and though
not one word on any other than the most common-place subjects
passed amongst the followers of the Count de Meulan — for so the
ambassador was called — yet their light laughter and gay jokes,

176 MARY OF BURGUNDY.

breaking forth every moment close to his ear, were anything but,
reverential.

Some little difficulty seemed now to occur in regard to the road
that the party were travelling. It appeared that, hitherto, on turning
slightly from the high road, they had followed the footmarks of the
Vert Gallant's charger, taking them for those left by the horse of an
avant-courier, who had been despatched to prepare for them at the
next town. When they found, however, that the steps turned into
the savannah, and lost themselves in a number of others, a halt im-
mediately took place ; and, after a short consultation, by order of the
ambassador, the whole party wheeled round, and wisely returned to
the high road.

Their whole proceedings, however, had been watched by one they
knew not of; and almost before they were out of sight, the Vert
Gallant emerged from his concealment, and, with a laugh which rang
with contempt, turned his horse's head and galloped away.

The Count de Meulan — or, in other words, Olivier le Dain, the
barber of Louis XI. whom that monarch had raised from the lowest
class for the basest qualities, and whom he now sent as ambassador,
to treat with the young heiress of Burgundy, and to intrigue with her
subjects — had hardly proceeded two hours on the high road, when a
fat rolling monk of the order of St. Francis, mounted on a sleek mule,
the picture of himself, joined the rear of the alnbassador's escort, and
entering into jovial conversation with some of the men-at-arms,
besought their leave to travel as far as they went on the road to Ghent
under their protection, alleging that the country was in such a dis-
turbed state, that even a poor brother like himself could not pursue
his journey in any safety. The light-hearted Frenchmen easily
granted his request, observing, in an under tone to each other, that
Oliver the Devil — such was the familiar cognomen of the respectable
personage they followed — could not in all conscience travel without a
monk in his train.

Father Barnabas, whom we have seen before, no sooner found him-
self added to the suite of the ambassador, than he displayed all those
qualities he well knew would make his society agreeable to the men-
at-arms who had given him protection; and by many a jolly carouse,
and many a licentious bacchanalian song, he soon won favour on all
hands. Even the barber count himself, whose more sensual propen-
sities were only restrained by his cunning, found no fault with the
merry friar, whose sly and cutting jests, combined with the sleek and
quiet look of stupidity which always accompanied them, found means
to draw up even his lip into a smile, that might have been mistaken
for a sneer. On one occasion he felt disposed to put some shrewd
questions to worthy Father Barnabas as to his situation and pursuits,
and even began to do so on the second night of their journey, as,
occupying the best seat by the fire in the little hostelrie at which they
lodged, he eyed the impenetrable fat countenance before him with the
sort of curiosity one feels to pry into anything that we see will be
difficult to discover.

But the monk was at least his match; and if the weapons with
which they engaged in the keen contest of their wits, were not pre-
cisely the same on both parts, the combat resembled that of the
elephant and the rhinoceros ; whenever Oliver the Wicked strove to

MARY OF BURGUNDY. 17?

eeize the monk and close with him, his antagonist ran under him and
gored him. Thus, when, by some casual words, the envoy thought he
had discovered that his companion was a native of Saarvelt, and sud-
denly put the question to him at once, the other replied, " No, no ; I
only remember it well, on account of a barber's boy who was there,
and whose real name was — pho ! I forget his real name ; but he is a
great man now-a-days, and has held a basin under the nose of a king."

The quiet, unconscious manner in which this was said, left Olivier
le Dain, with all his cunning, in doubt whether the jolly friar really
recognised in him the barber's boy of Saarvelt, or whether the allusion
had been merely accidental ; but he resolved not to interrogate any
more a person of such a memory, and possibly determined to take
care that the most effectual stop should be put to its exercise in future,
if those plans regarding Ghent should prove successful, in the execu-
tion of which he was now engaged.

Too wise, however, to show any harshness towards the monk at the
time — a proceeding which would have pointed home the sarcasm for
his men-at-arms, on whose faces he thought he had remarked a sneer-
ing smile as the other spoke — he allowed good father Barnabas still
to travel under his escort, meditating a lesson for him when he ar-
rived at his journey's end, which some might have thought severe.
In the meantime, as they journeyed on, there was about the monk a
sort of subdued triumph — a self-satisfied chuckle in his laugh, espe-
cially when he jested with the gay and boasting Frenchmen upon
their arms and their exploits — which occasionally wakened a suspi-
cion in the mind of Olivier le Dain, whose own conduct was far too
crooked for him to believe that any one else could act straightfor-
wardly.

Still no danger appeared ; and the party arrived in perfect safety,
within about four leagues of Ghent. There, after pausing for supper
at an inn, it was found, on preparing to resume their journey, and
enter the city that night, that the person who had hitherto guided
them was so drunk as hardly to be able to sit his horse. The ambas-
sador demanded a guide of the host, but none could be found ; and
the worthy keeper of the inn answered, with true Flemish coolness,
that he would not spare any one of his own household. " Could not
the monk guide them ?" he demanded. " If his eyes served him, he
had seen his broad face in that part of the world before."

" Ay, marry can I, my son," replied Father Barnabas ; " but I
offer no service before it is asked. There is a proverb against it,
man."

As the affairs he had to transact were of deep importance, and
minutes were of the utmost consequence to success, Olivier le Dain,
though by no means fond of riding at night, and not at all prepos-
sessed in favour of the monk, consented to accept him as a guide;
and the party accordingly set out. By a whispered arrangement be-
tween the respectable Count de Meulan and the captain of his escort,
however, a large part of the armed attendants rode on at a sufficient
distance before, to enable Olivier to make his retreat if he heard any
attack upon this advanced guard ; while the monk, riding between two
troopers, close to the worthy barber, was held as a sort of hostage for
the security of the road on which he was about to pilot them.

Father Barnabas, whether he perceived anything strange iu -*biB

ITU MABY OF BURGUNDY.

array or not, made no opposition, and jogged on contentedly upon
his mule, chattering gaily as he went, and seasoning his discourse
with various choice allusions to barbers, and basins, and beards,
much more to the gratification of the men-at-arms than of Olivier le
Dain.

Thus proceeded the cavalcade, till they reached the little wood of
Swynaerde, near Merebek, where the road from Alost, in ancient
days, crossed the Scheldt over a wooden bridge, at which a certain
pontage was charged upon each horse that passed. Here the mind of
the barber ambassador was in some degree relieved, by hearing from
the toll-taker that all was quite quiet and safe, though six good miles
still lay between him and Ghent, and that through a dark wood of
tall trees. At the distance of about a mile from the bridge was a red
cross, marking the direction of four different roads, which there inter-
sected each other ; and the whole party paused, as it was too dark to
read the information thereon inscribed, to receive the instructions of
the monk.

l: Straight on! straight on !" cried Father Barnabas ; and the first
part of the escort moved forward, though somewhat nearer to the
rest of the body than before ; but the moment they had again resumed
their march, there was a low, sharp whistle, and a sound of rushing
and rustling all around them. Olivier le Dain, who was already fol-
lowing the van, drew in his rein ; and the whistle, repeated a thousand
times in different parts of the wood round about, showed him at once
that his party was beset. Fear certainly was the predominant feel-
ing in his mind ; but even that very absorbing sensation did not
banish a passion equally strong; and while he turned his horse's
head to fly back to the bridge with all speed, he did not fail to say,
in a voice but little changed from its ordinary calm and sustained
tone, " We are betrayed ! Kill the monk!"

But both Olivier's purpose of escape, and his desire of vengeance,
were disappointed. At the very first whistle the friar had slipped, un-
perceived, from his sleek mule, and passing under the animal's belly,
was no longer to be seen ; and before the luckless ambassador could
reach the road, which led away to the bridge, he found it occupied
by armed men. To whichever side he turned the same sight pre-
sented itself; and even on the highway leading to Ghent a still
stronger party was interposed between him and the first division of
his escort. Thus then he remained in the midst of the open square
of the cross road, accompanied by about twelve attendants, and sur-
rounded by a body of adventurers, which could not consist of less
than one or two hundred, but which fear and darkness magnified
into a much greater number.

The scene and situation were by no means pleasant. Not a sound
was to be heard but the echo of horses' feet ringing over the hard
frozen ground, from which he justly inferred that the advanced party
of his escort, by whom he was neither loved nor respected, finding
themselves infinitely overmatched, had galloped off, leaving him to
his fate; and nothing was to be seen in the darkness of the night but
the black trunks of the trees, slightly relieved by the colour of the
ground, which was covered by a thin drift of snow, while a number of
iim human forms appeared, occupying all the different roads ; and a
multitude of faint, dull spots of fire, drawn in a complete circle round

MARY OF BUHGUNDY. 179

him, showed the ambassador that the slow matches of the arquebusiers,
into whose hands he had fallen, were prepared against resistance.

For a moment or two not a word was spoken ; but at length a voice
not far from him exclaimed, "Lord a' mercy! Only to think of the
barber's boy of Saarvelt coming ambassador to Ghent ! Lack a day!
lack a day, Noll! lack a day! thou art become a mighty great man!
Thou hast lathered and shaved to some purpose, ha, ha, ha!" And
the voice of the monk was drowned in his own laughter, the conta-
gious merriment of whose thick plum-porridge sounds instantly
affected all around; and the whole forest rang and echoed to the
peals.

" What would you, fair sirs ?" demanded the soft silken tones of
Olivier le Dain. '" If laughter be all you seek, laugh on ; but let me
pass upon my way. If it be gold you want, there, take my purse ; I
make you welcome to it."

" A fool and his money !" cried the monk, snatching the purse.
" But, 'faith, Master Noll, the barber, it is generous of you to give
what you cannot keep unless we like it."

" Cease your fooling, monk !" said the stem voice of some one ad-
vancing from the wood. " Get off your horse, Sir Barber ; you shall
know my pleasure with you when it suits me to tell it. And now
answer me. How dare you, a low mechanical slave, presume to un-
dertake a mission to the Duchess of Burgundy, without one drop of
noble blood in your veins ?"

"Your pardon, fair sir!" replied Oliver, dismounting slowly, and
standing in an attitude of deprecation before the tall commanding
figure by whom he was addressed ; " your pardon ; I was rendered
noble by my sovereign lord the king, for the very purpose, as his
letters patent will show."

"Faith! the letters patent must be miraculous ones that could
ennoble one drop of your slave's blood," replied the Vert Gallant.
" There, take him away ! Treat him not ill ; but keep him safe and
fast. Search his person, his servants, and his sumpter horses. Ex-
amine well the stuffings of the saddles, and the paddings of their
coats ; and bring every paper and parchment you may find."

"But listen to me, fair sir. Only hear me!" entreated Olivier le
Dain. " Surely you will not show such treatment to an ambassador!
My papers and my person are sacred in every Christian land."

" Pshaw I" cried the Vert Gallant. " When Louis, King of France,
60 far forgets what is due to a princess, as to send to the heiress ol
Burgundy a mean, cunning barber, as an ambassador, he can only
expect that others will also forget the character with which he chooses
to invest his lackey. Besides, what is it to me that you are ambas-
sador to Burgundy? You are no ambassador to me. I am duke ot
the forests ; and when you come as envoy to me, you shall have forest
cheer. Away with him and do my bidding!"

Closely guarded, but well treated, Olivier le Dain and his atten-
dants were detained for some days in the woods near Ghent, during
the greater part of which time, though occasionally compelled to
sleep in a hut of boughs, they resided generally in a small lonely
house, which had belonged in former days to the forester.

At length, one morning, suddenly, while the twilight was still grey,
the ambassador and his followers were called from their repose, and

180 MART OF BURGUNDT.

placed upon the horses which brought them. All their apparel and
jewels were restored, as well as their arms ; and of the treasure which
the barber had brought with him for the purpose of bribing the popu-
lace of Ghent, a sufficient portion was left in his possession to main-
tain his dignity, but not to effect the object he had intended.

He was then told to proceed upon his way, for that he was free to
come or go ; and with all speed he turned his rein towards Ghent, at
which place he arrived in safety, though seven days after the period
that had been fixed for his appearance.

CHAPTER XXTV.

In the meantime, many events had occurred within the walls of the
city of Ghent, of which some account must be given, though perhaps
it may be necessary to follow the same desultory course in which
they are related in shrewd old Philip de Commines and pompous
Jean de Molinet.

The quelled tumult, the extinguished fire, and the prompt justice
done upon some of the incendiaries, spread in a thousand shapes
through the town; and as, whenever Fame has marked a hero for
her own, she never fails to load him with many more honours than
his due, Albert Maurice had soon acquired the reputation of a thou-
sand miracles of skill, and courage, and judgment, far beyond the
acts he had really performed. Thus, when, after a brief sleep and a
hasty meal, he issued forth from his house the next morning, and
rode on to the town-house, he found the people — on whose wrath for
their thwarted passions he had fully counted — ready, on the con-
trary, to shout gratulations and plaudits on his path. At the town-
house, the syndics and notables of all the trades had already assem-
bled, and the druggist Ganay was in the very act of proposing that
an address of thanks and applause should be voted to the young
burgher for his noble and courageous conduct of the preceding
evening. Albert Maurice, however, was not to be blinded ; and even
when the druggist was declaiming vehemently against the outrages
of the foregoing night, and lamenting that the populace had dealt
upon the eschevins without due judgment by law, the eye of the
young citizen fixed upon him with a glance of keen reproach, which
Ganay at once translated, and translated rightly — " You have deceived
me."

To have done so, however, was no matter of shame to the dark and
artful man who was speaking; and, as their eyes met, a slight smile
of triumphant meaning curled his lip, while, with a fresh burst of
eloquence, he called upon the assembly to testify their admiration of
the man who had saved the city from pillage and conflagration. The
address of thanks was carried by acclamation ; and Albert Maurice
soon found that it was the determination of the more active part of
the citizens, under the immediate influence of Ganay, to carry for-
ward, with eager rapidity, all those bold measures which would
deprive the sovereigns of any real power for the future, and place it
entirely in the hands of the people —or rather, in the hands of what-
ever person had courage, energy, and talent, to snatch it from their
grasp, and retain it in his own. Twenty-six eschevins, together with

MABJ OF BURGUNDT. 181

the lieutenant-bailli, and three pensioners, were immediately elected
by the citizens, to replace those who had been massacred, and to
administer the law; but the grand bailli and chief pensioner were
st.'l' to be chosen, and Albert Maurice with surprise heard the deter-
mination of the citizens to confound those two high offices in his own
person. From the body of magistrates, three persons were selected,
as a president and two consuls, as they were called, and extraordinary
powers were entrusted to them. The president named at once was
the chief officer of the city, Albert Maurice ; and Ganay, the druggist,
was added as one of the consuls. The third officer was not so easily
filled ; and a strong attempt was made to raise to it a fierce and bru-
tal man, whose talents perhaps appeared greater than they really
were, from the total want of any of the restraints of feeling and
moral principle, to limit the field in which they were exercised.

Some one, however, luckily proposed the name of worthy Martin
Fruse ; and his nomination, seconded by the eloquent voice of his
nephew, was instantly acquiesced in by all. A slight cloud passed
over the brow of the druggist, as he found his power likely to be
counterbalanced by the influence of one, who, if he possessed no
other quality to render him great, had at least that rectitude of feel-
ing, which was a fearful stumbling-block in the way of crooked
designs. But unchangeable determination of purpose, and unscru-
pulous exercise of means, had rendered the druggist so often suc-
cessful in things which seemed hopeless, that he bore, with scarcely
a care, any change of circumstances, confident of finding some path
to his object in the end.

After one of those noisy and tumultuous assemblies, in the course
of which, though no business is transacted with calm reason, an
infinity of acts are performed by impulse, the meeting at the town-
house broke up ; and while Martin Fruse returned to his dwelling on
foot, as was his usual custom, Albert Maurice and the druggist
mounted their horses, and rode slowly homeward. Their conversa-
tion was long and rapid — too long, indeed, for transcription here;
but the commencement of it must not be omitted, even for the sake
of brevity.

"Ganay, you have deceived me!" said Albert Maurice, as soon as
they were in some degree free from the crowd.

" I have 1" was the calm reply of the druggist. " You are ungrate-
ful, Albert. You have never thanked me for it. "What, you would
pretend you do not see cause for thanks! Had not the populace
taken it into their own hands, the council must have condemned
those foul vultures who have so long preyed upon us. Ay, I say
must; and then whose name, but that of Albert Maurice, must have
stood amongst others in the order for their death? As I have
managed it, the severity was no act of yours. You have offended
none — no, not even the princess ; and, on the contrary, you have had
the means of adding, in one night, more to your fame, than your
whole life has won before. You have had an opportunity of winning
honour and respect from commons and from nobles, and love and
gratitude from Mary of Burgundy. Still farther, have you not in one
night, in consequence of acts with which you accuse me almost as a
crime — have you not climbed to the very height of power in your
native land ? ay, I say the height of power, for who is there, be h«

182 MART OF BURGUNDY.

duke, or count, or prince, who has so much authority as he who swayi
the power of all the people of Flanders ? A few steps more, and
your hand may seize the "

"The what?" demanded Albert Maurice, as the other paused.

" No matter," replied the druggist. " The gates of ambition are
cast wide open before you; and you must on, whether you will or
not."

"Ha! and who shall force me?" demanded Albert Maurice.

"Fate! Destiny!" answered the druggist. "Tis many years
ago, and you were then a mere boy ; but I remember your fate was
predicted in the forest of Hannut by that gloomy lord whose only
commune, for many a year, had been with the bright stars. 'Twas
one night when we fell accidentally into the hands of the free com-
panions— and he foretold that you should go on from power to power,
successfully through life; and that no one should check you but
yourself."

"And do you believe in such vain dreams?" rejoined Albert
Maurice.

" I believe," replied the druggist, gravely, " that our lot through
life is immutably fixed from the cradle to the grave ; that like a wild
horse we may foam and plunge, or like a dull jade plod onward at a
foot pace — but that the firm rider, Fate, still spurs us on upon the
destined course ; and when the stated goal is won, casts down the
bridle on our neck, and leaves us to repose. I believe, too, that the
stars, as well as many other things, may tell, to those who study
them, events to come; for depend upon it, every tiling throughout
the universe fits closely, like the blocks cut for a perfect arch ; so
that, from the form and position of the neighbouring stones, a person,
who has deeply studied, may tell to a certainty the shape and size of
any other."

Albert Maurice mused for a moment over the confession of this
strange creed, and its illustration, and then demanded—" What did
the old lord say concerning me ?"

The druggist repeated his former words ; and his young companion
again mused for a brief space. Then suddenly bringing back the
conversation to the matter in which it arose, he repeated — " Ganay,
you have deceived me, and not for my interest, but for your own
revenge. You have worked your will ; and I trust that you are now
sated. Better for us both to labour together as far as may be, than
stand in the very outset face to face as foes. Are you contented with
the blood already shed ?"

" There must be one more !" said the druggist, resolutely.

" And who do you aim at now ?" demanded the young citizen, with
no small loathing and horror towards his companion ; but yet with a
conviction that, by some means, he would accomplish his purpose.

" It matters not," replied Ganay ; " but set your mind at ease,
the man to whom I point is less an enemy to myself than an enemy
to the state ; and I give you my promise that I will practise nought
against his life but with your consent. So guilty is he, and so con-
vinced shall you be of his guilt, that your own hand shall sign the
warrant for his death. But, oh! Albert Maurice, if you believe that
the blood shed last night is all that must be shed to effect the pur-
poses you seek, sadly, sadly do you deceive yourself. Prepare tff

MABT OF BUBGUNDY. 183

lid it flow like water, or betake you to a monastery! Ambition
joined to faint-hearted pity, is like a tame lion at a show, led about
by a woman."

" But there is such a thing as patriotism," rejoined Albert Maurice
— yet he named the virtue but faintly, compared with the tone in
■which he would have mentioned it three days before.

" Ay," said the druggist ; " patriotism! The first step to ambition—
but that stage is past."

Well did Ganay know that there exists no means of persuading a
human being to any course of action, so powerful as by convincing
him it is inevitable. To do so, however, there must be probability as
a basis; and Ganay had watched too closely the most minute turns of
his companion's behaviour during many months, not to divine the
spark of ambition lying half smothered at the bottom of his heart.
Nor had the effect of Mary of Burgundy's eyes upon the colour and the
voice of Albert Maurice been lost upon the keen spirit that followed
him ; and he fancied he beheld an easy method of bending him to his
own purpose. He saw, indeed, that, if either by love or any other
means, he succeeded in fanning that spark of ambition into a flame,
he must leave him to run his course without a struggle, or a hope to
deprive him of the prize : nay, that he must aid him with his whole
cunning to raise up a new authority in the land, on the basis of that
which they were about to overthrow. But Ganay was not ambitious
of aught but avarice and revenge; and he soon perceived that these
two master passions of Ms soul must be gratified by Albert Maurice in
his ascent to power.

As he rode on, he spoke long of their future prospects. He cast
away, at once, the enthusiastic cant he had at one time assumed
towards him, ot patriotism and the entire abnegation of self; and, in
order to habituate his mind fully to the dreams of ambition, he spoke
of them as things already determined and to be. But still, to smooth
the transition, he failed not to point out the mighty benefits that a
ruler with a truly liberal heart might confer upon his people — it
mattered not what he was called — governor, lord, duke, prince, or
king. As for a pure republic, the land was not yet in a state fit for
it, he said : but what a boon — a mighty boon — might not that man
grant to the whole world, who, starting up from amongst the people,
were to rule them for their own happiness alone, and to show to other
monarchs the immense advantages of such a sway !

" But if you speak of this land," replied Albert Maurice, in whose
heart he had discovered the unfortified spot — " but if you speak of this
land, how can any man so start up, without tearing her inheritance
from the gentlest, the noblest of beings ?"

" By one means alone," answered Ganay, in a grave, decided tone;
" by uniting her fate with his own."

Albert Maurice, thrown off his guard by so bold and straightforward
an allusion to that which was passing in his own heart, suddenly drew
in his rein, and glanced his eye over the countenance of the druggist,
to see if there were no sneer at the presumption of his very dreams,
hidden beneath the calm tone which the other assumed. But all was
tranquil, and even stern ; and, after a momentary pause, the young
burgher replied, though with a flushed and burning cheek — " If — as
we know her to be — she is so gentle, and noble, and kind-hearted, as

184 MARY OF BUIiCUJiDY.

you admit, why not leave her to rule her hereditary lands by the die*
tates of her generous will?"

" What! before a year be over," cried Ganay, " to give her hand,
and with it the wealth, and welfare, and happiness of her people, to
some of the proud tyrants under which the country groans ; or, at
the instigation of her intriguing ministers, to bestow the whole upon
some foreign prince, who will come amongst us without one sympathy,
to grind into the dust the stranger subjects given him like serfs, as «
part of his wife's portion! Is this what you would have ?"

Albert Maurice was silent, but not so Ganay ; and as they pro-
ceeded, with poisonous eloquence he poured forth every argument, to
show both the necessity and the facility of the course he suggested.
He cited Artevelde, as an (instance of what talented ambition had
accomplished in that very city, and in an age when all the institutions
of feudal pride were a thousand-fold stricter than they had since
become. He depicted him, now a lackey in a noble house in France,
and then a mead- brewer in Ghent, and then a popular leader, and
then a companion of kings, seated beside the conquering and accom-
plished Edward of England, treating as a prince with Philip of France,
waging war at the head of mighty armies, and balancing the fate of
Europe by his power. He had fallen, at length, he said, it was true ;
but he had fallen by his vices and his follies ; and as far as virtues,
talents, courage, or accomplishments, went, could Artevelde compete,
for one hour, with the man to whom he then spoke ? The one was a
lackey, risen from the lowest order of the state, the other sprang from
the highest class of the burghers of the first commercial city in the
north of Europe — burghers who already ranked almost with nobility,
and who, in fact, should rank far higher.

With the skill of a practised musician, whose finger lights with nice
precision on all the tones and half tones of his instruments, Ganay
found means to touch every feeling in the bosom of the young burgher,
and make every chord vibrate with the sound that he desired. True
it is, indeed, that the heart of Albert Maurice was not one to have
been thus worked upon, had not the feelings been already there ; and
the task of his companion — an easy one in comparison — was merely
to excite those feelings into stronger action.

At length they readied the door of his own dwelling ; and Albert
Maurice alighted from his horse, without asking the druggist to do si)
too. But Ganay rode on contented ; for he saw that he had given the
young citizen matter for thoughts which sought to be indulged in
private, and he desired no better. Nor had his words failed to sink
deep. Albert Maurice, indeed, passed rapidly over in his own mind
all the intermediate steps; but there rested behind, as a result, the
proud, the inspiring conviction, that all which he chose to snatch at
Was within his grasp — that in one single day he had reached a height
of power, from which it was but a step to the side of Mary of Bur-
gundy ; and the conviction was a dangerous one for his virtue and his
|>eace. Much, however was still to be done ; and he sat down to re-
volve all that must be attempted and effected, in order to render the
daring hopes of mingled love and ambition, with which his own heart
beat, a passion of the people — to crush, or scatter, or circumvent the
many rivals that must and would arise — and to win the love of her,
tpon whose affections all his dreams were founded. For the latter

MAEV OF BURGUNDY. 186

object, he teit that it was necessary to bury deep in his own heart the
aspirations which rose within it, till manifold communings, service,
and tenderness, should have ripened the esteem, in which he saw he
was held, into warmer feelings. Thus he pondered, till, before he was
aware, schemes were formed, and deeds were prepared, which all
eternity could not annul.

The following days passed much in the same manner ; but each day
brought forward to the light some of the many difficulties with which
the young citizen was destined to contend in his progress towards the
great object before his eyes, but which, having calculated upon
them from the first, he was prepared to meet as soon as they assumed
a tangible form. During the course of the morning which followed
the day of his elevation to the supreme power in the city, the levy of
a large body of troops was voted, and the entire command was assigned
to himself: but, before night, the Lord of Eavestein, the Duke of
Cleves, and the Bishop of Liege arrived, to counsel and support the
princess; and though each came separately, their trains, united,
amounted to nearly a thousand men. A wary guard, however, was
held upon the gates of Ghent, and only thirty attendants were allowed
to pass within the walls in company with each of the noble visiters;
tvhile, much to the discontent of their lords, the rest were sent back
to their various territories.

A new scene of intrigue immediately followed the arrival of these
princes in the palace; and it soon reached the ears of Albert Maurice,
that the Duke of Cleves was moving heaven and earth to obtain the
hand of the orphan Princess of Burgundy for his son. Almost at the
same time, good Martin Fruse received intelligence, from a quarter
which we already know, that Louis XI. sought to unite France and
Burgundy, by a union between the heiress of Charles the Bold and
his sickly child, the Dauphin; and it soon became evident, thatlmber-
court and Hugonet, supported by the Lord of Ravestein, were eagerly
pressing Mary to sacrifice her own feelings to the benefit of her country,
and to bestow her hand upon the feeble boy.

Clear, however — most clear, it was, both to Albert Maurice and to
the druggist Ganay, that while these parties contended for mastery,
they must equally court the people of Ghent, and more especially must
bow to the young citizen himself, whose power they all well knew, and
whose designs they did not suspect. Of neither of the parties at the
court did Albert Maurice at first entertain much fear ; for he felt sure
that the heart of Mary of Burgundy, however tutored to sacrifice her
own will, would strongly revolt against either alliance — the one with
a fierce and brutal sot — the other with a sickly child. But tidings
epeedily arrived, which made him fear that force or terror would soon
compel the unhappy girl to yield herself to France. News now reached
him that Louis was already in the field, that Picardy was full of the
troops of France, and that Commines and Bourbon were advancing
along the line of the Somme. An ambassador, too, he was warned at
the same time, was on his way from France to Ghent ; and to show the
young citizen that he was sent rather to tamper with the people, than
to negotiate with the princess, or even with the municipal council,
copies of his commission and instructions reached Albert Maurice from
an unknown source, together with an assurance that some days would
yet elapse before he could appear at the gates.

186 MART OF BURGUNDY.

The near approach of the ambassador, whom we have already seen
delayed on his journey, remained unknown in the palace ; but hourly
tidings were received of the progress of the French king, and of his
unjust claims upon the whole inheritance of the late Duke of Bur-
gundy. The pretences he set forth were so futile and absurd — so con-
trary to every principle of law or justice, that every one believed his
sole object was to force the heiress of Burgundy into an immediate
marriage with his son. Imbercourt, Hugonet, and all the ministers of
the late duke, saw his proceedings in the same point of view, and inces-
santly besought the unhappy Mary to yield to her fate, and, before
her dominions were entirely incorporated with France, to avert the
misfortunes that must fall upon herself and her people, by yieldira
her hand to the Dauphin.

The same conclusion in regard to the motives of Louis XI. was
drawn by the Duke of Cleves ; but the result on his own conduct waa
totally different. Instead of beseeching Mary to yield to necessity, he
opposed such advice with determined and angry vehemence. He stig-
matized Hugonet and Imbercourt as traitors ; and, in order to destroy
the powerful party opposed to his own views in the council of the
princess, he laid himself out to court the people ; rode side by side
with Albert Maurice through the streets of the city, amidst the shouts
of the multitude ; and, after having excited the municipal body to
petition that their president might have a seat in the provincial council
of Flanders, he himself presented the address, which he knew that
neither Mary nor her ministers dared to refuse.

Albert Maurice, however, suffered himself not to be dazzled ; and
though joy inexpressible thrilled at his heart at every triumphant step
he took in advance ; though his whole soul rejoiced at the constant
opportunity now afforded him of daily communication with her he
dared to love ; yet he allowed neither passion nor success for a moment
to relax his energies nor his watchfulness ; and he yielded to the pre-
tensions of the Duke of Cleves in favour of his son, only so far as
might stay the precipitate haste with which the French alliance might
otherwise have been concluded.

With Imbercourt he clashed continually ; and the firm, calm rea-
soning of the minister was constantly met and overpowered by the
fiery and brilliant eloquence of the 3roung citizen. Nor was he, even
in opposing her faithful and her esteemed minister, without deriving
some encouragement from the eyes of Mary herself, whenever the dis-
cussion took place in her presence ; for though she both loved and
reverenced the wise and gallant friend of her father, who advocated,
for her own interests, the proposed union with the Dauphin ; yet to
her heart that union was so repugnant, that she could not but look
with pleasure on every one who opposed it, nor listen without delight
to arguments which gave her new courage to resist.

Nor did Albert Maurice ever support the idea of her marriage with
another ; so that, while advancing his own design, and winning both
her gratitude and admiration, he was never found in opposition to her
wishes ; and still, when he appeared, she welcomed his coming with a
smile and with a look of pleasure, which, without the slightest purpose
of deceit, served painfully to deceive.

Nevertheless, the Duke of Cleves made rapid progress ; and, not
Contented with the efforts of the young citizen to oppose the French

MARY OF BUEGUNDT. 187

alliance, he left no means untried to stimulate the people to support
his own design. The watchful eye of Albert Maurice was indeed upon
him, but still his strides towards the accomplishment of his schemes
were more speedy than the other had anticipated ; and the cries h«
heard when riding, one day, towards the palace, of "Long live the
Duke of Cleves ! Long live his gallant son !" showed him at once that
it was time to raise up some barrier against his pretensions. At the
same time he felt, that to give even a slight support to the opposite
party might prove fatal to his hopes ; and, after a long consultation
with Ganay, he determined to seek out some one who might openly
pretend to Mary's hand, and draw away the countenance of the people
from the Duke of Cleves ; but whose pretensions would be even more
repugnant, not only to herself, but to her ministers, her friends, and
her nobles, than even his own might prove at an after-period. But
who was to be the man ?

Accompanied by the crowd of attendants, who now alwivs followed
his footsteps when he rode forth, as chief magistrate of Ghent, Albert
Maurice hastened to the palace, some minutes before the council met,
and was admitted to the presence of the princess, whose smiles gave
him even a more glad reception than ordinary. She was not alone,
however ; for besides her usual train of ladies, a page, a chamberlain,
and a man dressed as a peasant, but whose scarred cheek told tales of
warlike broils, stood before her when he entered.

"Oh! you are most welcome, Sir President," said the princess,
" and have come to afford me counsel at a good moment. Here is a
ring just returned to me, which I gave some months ago to a stranger
who saved me, I believe, from death, in a thunderstorm, near Tirle-
mont. I promised, at the same time, that on his sending it back,
I would grant whatever he might ask, if it were consistent with my
honour and my dignity. Look what he says on this slip of parch-
ment. ' He, to whom the Duchess of Burgundy gave this ring, de-
mands, as the boon of which it was a pledge, the instant liberation of
Adolphus, Duke of Gueldres,"and his restoration to his own domains.' "

Albert Maurice almost started; for there was a strange coincidence
between the demand which the princess had just read, and the
thoughts which had been passing in his mind as he rode thither.
" Lady," he said, " it seems to me that there is but one counsel to be
given you. Your world is plighted ; the liberation of the Duke of
Gueldres — monster though he be, is consistent with your honour and
dignity ; and your promise must be fulfilled."

"You always judge nobly, Sir President," replied the princess;
" and I thank you now, and ever shall thank you, for supporting that
which is just and generous, however contrary it may be to apparent
interests."

" Believe me, madam," replied the young citizen, bending low to
conceal the joy that sparkled in his eyes, " believe me that it shall ever
be my endeavour both to forward your best interests and those of the
country, which are, indeed, inseparable ; and I would ask you as a
boon, through all the future, whatever you may see or think strange
in my demeanour, to rest assured that your good and my country's
are still the motive."

" I will — I will, indeed," replied the Princess ; " for it would be
hard to make me suppose that you, whom I have seen act so nobly

188 MARsr or burgundy.

in circumstances of personal danger and difficulty, would forget your
honour and integrity, when trusted by our countrymen and your
sovereign."

A slight flush passed over the cheek of Albert Maurice at such
praise. It was not exactly that he knew himself undeserving of it,
for he had laboured hard and successfully to convince his own mind
that his aggrandizement, the welfare of the country — ay, and he almost
hoped, the happiness of Mary herself, were inseparably united. He
replied, however — not with words of course, for his lightest thoughts
were seldom commonplace — but vaguely ; and, after a few questions
addressed to the man who bore the ring, which he seemed unwilling to
answer, the princess rendered her promise to liberate the Duke of
Gueldres definite, and the messenger was suffered to depart.

At the meeting of the council, which followed immediately, the mat-
ter was discussed and concluded, and the orders to set the duke at
liberty were instantly despatched. They were accompanied, however,
by an express command from the princess — whose abhorrence for that
base, unnatural son, turbulent subject, and faithless friend, was uncon-
cealed— that he should immediately retire to his own domains, and
never present himself before her.

Most important matters occupied the council also. New tidings
had been received from the frontiers ; and all those tidings were evil.
No doubt could now exist, that while his principal officers were
invading the Duchy of Burgundy in the east, Louis XI. with an over-
whelming force, was marching onwards towards Flanders, taking
possession of all those fair lands which had descended to the unhappy
princess at the death of her father, and meeting with little opposition
on his way. Already Abbeville had thrown open its gates. Ham,
Bohain, St. Quentin, Koye, and Montdidier, had followed ; and Pe-
ronne — proud impregnable Peronne — had been yielded at the first
summons.

Again the Lord of Imbercourt boldly and strongly urged the abso-
lute necessity of propitiating the King of Prance, and arresting his
farther progress by the immediate union, or at least affiancing, of the
Princess of Burgundy and the heir of the French crown. It was the
only means, he said — it was the only hope of preserving any part of
the dominions which, by various events, had been united under the
coronet of Burgundy ; and was it not better, he asked, for the princess
to carry them as a dowry to her husband, than to come portionless to
the same prince at last, and receive the honour of his alliance as a
matter of grace and favour ?

"My lords," replied Albert Maurice, rising as soon as the others had
sat down, " already a thousand times have you heard my arguments
against the base and ungenerous ^tep proposed; often have I shown,
by reasoning, that the interests of France and Burgundy are as dis-
tinct as it is possible to conceive, and that centuries must elapse be-
fore they can be united. But, if such be the case with the duchy of
Burgundy itself, and all its immediate dependencies, how much more
so is it the case with Flanders and Brabant. With England, the
eternal enemy of France, has ever been our great commercial inter-
course; to our friendship with England do we owe our commercial
existence; and the moment that this land is united to the enemy of
that great country, that moment our wealth, our prosperity, our being

MAflt OFBUaoUMDr. 18S

03 a distinct land, is at an end. All this I have shown, taking a mer«
political view: but remembering that I spoke to knights and noblef,
to men who can feel for national honour, and fear national disgrace, \
have also pointed out the shame — the burning shame — it would be i|
the eyes of all Christendom, the moment that your bold and gallant
prince is dead, to truckle to his often worsted enemy ; to yield to
Louis the lands which Charles the Bold so stoutly maintained against
him; and to give his daughter's hand to the son of that base foe,
whose dark and traitorous intrigues effected, more than aught on
earth, your sovereign's overthrow and death. Already have I de-
manded why, instead of all those degrading concessions, you do not
prepare defences in the field : and why, rather than talk of yielding
tamely to an unjust tyrant, you do not go forth to encounter him
with lance and sword, as in the days of the great duke ? But now I
I must use another language — language more bold and more decided — ■
and say that Flanders, Hainault, and Brabant, will never consent to be
the slaves of France : France, who has so often wronged us, and
whose efforts, vain as they have been, have never ceased to grasp at
the dominion of these lands. More ! I say — and by my voice the
three united states now speak to the councils of Burgundy — that we
will consider and pursue, as a false and perfidious traitor, bought
with the gold of France to betray his lady's interest, that man, who-
ever he may be, who henceforth proposes the subjection of these
lands to a French prince."

_ The Duke of Cleves eagerly supported the bold speech of the young
citizen, as did also the Bishop of Liege, more perhaps from personal
hatred to Imbercourt, than from any real disapprobation of the
French alliance. Warm and violent words passed on all parts ; and
the discussion had reached a pitch of dangerous turbulence, when it
was announced that the Count de Meulan, envoy extraordinary from
the King of France, had just entered the city, and taken up his abode
at the principal inn of the place.

This news gave a different turn to the deliberations of the council ;
and after determining that the reception of the ambassador should
take place the following day, the assembly broke up ; and its vari-
ous members separated with those feelings of personal animosity
burning in their bosoms, which have so often proved fatal to greafc
designs.

CHAPTER XXV.

About seven o'clock at night, a post arrived in Ghent, bearing the
unwelcome intelligence that Hesden, Montreul, Boulogne, Cambray,
and many other places, had yielded to the arms of France ; that
Philippe de Crevecoeur, the oldest and most tried servant of the house
of Burgundy, had gone over to the enemy, and that Arras itself was
lost to Flanders. Such were the tidings that reached Albert Maurice,
Ivhilst busily debating with Ganay, in a private chamber of the
Hotel de Ville, the means of raising, as rapidly as possible, a large
force for the defence of the country.

The messenger delivered the sealed packets into the hands of the
(wing President, with notice that they were of the utmost impor-
tance ; but ere he opened them, Albert Maurice dismissed the bearer

190 MARY OF BfRGUNDT.

calmly, and finished the phrase which his entrance had interrupted
He then broke the seals and read ; but as he proceeded, notwith-
standing his great command over his own feelings, it was clear, from
the contraction of his brow, and the quivering of his lip, that the
tale therein written was anything but pleasing.

Casting them on the table, after a moment's deep thought, the
young citizen laid his hand sternly upon the papers, and approach-
ing the lamp towards them, pointed to the fatal tidings from Arras,
saying to his keen companion — " This is sad ! this is terriblj ! We
must, if possible, keep this from the knowledge of the council, till
this pitiful ambassador has had his reply."

Ganay read the contents of the papers over, word by word ; then
raising his eyes to the face of his companion, and compressing his
thin, bloodless lips, he replied, calmly but sternly — " Imbercourt
must die !"

Albert Maurice started. "No, no! not so," replied he; "I am
not one of those tigers, Ganay, to cross whose path is death. He
may oppose me in the council, he may even thwart me in my plans,
and yet not die, Ganay. But if he betray my country, his deed
be upon his head. I will crush him with my heel, as I would a
riper!"

" Imbercourt must die!" reiterated Ganay, in the same stern deter-
mined tone he had used before. " He ivill betray your country and
mine — and he dies. I have marked him well, I see his plans. He,
like the traitors who have gone over before, will sell his country to
France for French gold, and he must die. The only difference be-
tween him and this Philippe de Crevecoeur is, that the one, less cun-
ning than the other, went over with nothing but his own brute
eouragt to sell ; while this Imbercourt, take my word for it, will
carry, as merchandise to Louis of France, the hand of Mary of Bur-
gundy, and the coronet of all these states."

" Never !" cried Albert Maurice, stung to the heart, as the other
had intended, and striking his clenched hand upon the table, "never!
My head or his shall whiten in the wind over the battlements of
Ghent, before such a sacrifice be consummated."

The moment he had spoken, however, he felt that he had given
Ganay an advantage; and well understanding that the game between
him and his subtle comrade was one that admitted of no oversight,
and that he must be as much upon his guard with his apparent friend
as with a declared enemy, he hastened to turn the conversation from
a topic on which he could not speak wisely . " We must think far-
ther," he said, "we must think farther. In the meantime," he added,
abruptly, " see you to this messenger, and ensure that he do not
6pread his news abroad before the reception of the worthy ambassa-
dor whom Louis has deigned to send. I have that in yon cabinet
which shall overthrow, at a word, all that his cunning can advance,
were he as cunning as the fiend whose name he takes. At the same
time, Ganay, I must trust to your zeal also, my friend, for the skilful
management of our other purpose. This Duke of Gueldres you must
render popular with the citizens, and oppose him strongly to the
Duke of Cleves. Not too far, however. I would equally divide be-
tween them the power that the Duke of Cleves at present holds en
tire. Better it were, nevertheless, that the people over-favoured him

MARY OF BURGUNDY. 191

of Gueldres, than the other, for he has no hope. Every noble in the
land would rise up against him; and, at the worst, it were but
three passes of this steel," and he touched the hilt of his sword,
" to send him howling to the place he has so long deserved ; and
to win me the thanks of all the world, for ridding it of such a
monster."

Notwithstanding all his care, Albert Maurice felt, and felt angrily,
that the eager passions of his heart would burst forth and display
more of his real feelings and emotions than he was willing to expose.
Ganay smiled, too, as he listened ; and with his smiles there was al-
ways mingled a degree of mockery of the person who excited them,
which rendered their meaning very doubtful.

"May I trust you?" demanded Albert Maurice, sternly.

"You may," answered the druggist. "Doubt me not; for with
you, Albert Maurice, I am more frank a thousand- fold than with any
other human being. We are like two men playing one game of chess,
against a whole host of adversaries ; and it is necessary that we should
see each other's moves. Your game I know, Albert; and mine I do
not seek to conceal from you, for it would be both useless and fatigu-
ing. I will, then, do your bidding in regard to these two men of
Cleves and Gueldres; and so play them off against each other, that
they shall both combine, in their dissensions, to raise you to the height
of your ambition.

He spoke boldly ; and Albert Maurice felt that, for once at least,
he spoke truly. He saw, indeed, that although they were in some sort
partners in the game, as Ganay had depicted them, yet they were
playing for different stakes, and might soon find that they had dif-
ferent interests.

" And when this game is won, Ganay," said he, calmly, after a brief
pause, " this game in which you and I stand as partners, say, are we
to turn round the board, and singly play one short game more, against
ea,ch other ? Ha ! is it not so ?"

" No ; on my life !" replied Ganay, with a degree of fervour unusual
with him. " No, on my life, young man. I have my passions, like
my neighbours ; but I am without ambition. Do you, too, believe me
without a touch of feelkig ? You have shown me kindness in times
past : you once saved the life of one that is now no more ; three years
ago you held my head when it throbbed with fever, when we were toge-
ther on the shores of the Adriatic : and if you cross not my purpose,
if you oppose not the stronger passion, which guides, and struggles
with, and masters all, you shall find that my gratitude is only second
to my revenge. Even more," he added, resuming his ordinary air of
calm shrewdness : " I can even be grateful for those things which I
accomplish by your means, though without your will ; and our com-
mon efforts for one great purpose bind us together more firmly than
you think. So, now, farewell ! but remember, I tell you Imbercourt
is a traitor, and he must die !"

" If he be a traitor, die most certainly he shall," replied Albert
Maurice ; " but in regard to that man, I mistrust my own motives too
much to rely on my own judgment. More, Ganay! still more ! I mis-
trust your motives, too ; and I will not rely on your judgment either,
Nay, protest not! I see your bitter persevering hatred of that man
as clearly as if yow bosom were of glass, though I see not the occa-

.92 MARY OF BCRGUND*

sion of it. But it matters not what be the occasion. I doubt myselfj
•nd I doubt you ; and others, more impartial than either you or I,
shall judge him, though, God knows, I know no cause of enmity you
can have towards him. So now, farewell."

Ganay's lip curled with a very mingled expression, as Albert
Maurice pronounced the last words, but he made no reply ; and, leav»
ing the young citizen, he proceeded to confer with the messenger whc
had lately arrived, and then held a long and secret conference with
Maillotin du Bac.

The post that brought such unwelcome tidings from the frontier
supped well at the Maison de Ville, and, resting his weary limbs upon
his bed, soon found the sweet sleep of fatigue ; nor did he ever stir
from the precincts of the building. No one saw him without its
gates; no one held conference with him within, except in the pre-
sence of Ganay himself. Nevertheless, before an hour had passed,
the whole news he had brought were known to Imbercourt, and were
by him carried straight to the princess. How it reached him it were
hard to say, for no post came to the Cours du Prince from that quar-
ter, but still he had learned it all. Not a word had escaped him, the
whole evil tidings were known, and the consternation was excited
■which Albert Maurice had been so desirous of warding off, till the
ambassador from France had been received and dismissed. The views
of the young citizen in this desire were certainly partly patriotic
and partly personal ; but his immediate object was to send back the
messenger of the deceitful Louis with such a reply as would render
the project of a union between France and Burgundy hopeless. Every
fresh success of the French king of course strengthened the argu-
guments of those who advocated the marriage of Mary with the
Dauphin ; and this torrent of evil tidings was well calculated to over-
power all opposition.

Such had been the light in which Albert Maurice had seen the
effect likely to be produced by the progress of Louis ; but in vain,
however, did he take measures to conceal it. Each event, rather
magnified than otherwise, reached the ears of Imbercourt, and by him
were that very night detailed to Mary herself. Tidings had arrived
in Ghent, not long before, that almost the whole of the duchy of Bur-
gundy also had been overrun by French troops ; and this, together
with the unresisted advance of the King of France on the side of
Flanders, the total loss of Picardy, Artois, and the Boulonnois, the
desertion of her friends, the turbulence of her subjects, and the power
of her enemies, overcame at length the unhappy girl's hopes and her
firmness. After a long conference with Imbercourt and her chancel-
lor, as well as with her cousin, the Lord of Bavestein, and her best
of friends, Margaret, her father's widow, in an evil hour Mary con-
sented to send the two former on a mission to the base monarch who
was usurping her inheritance.

Under their dictation, with a trembling hand, she wrote part of a
letter to Louis XI. ; but where she came to give them power to treat
of her alliance with France, her feelings overpowered her, and the
tears gushing from her eyes, obscured her sight.

" Give me the pen, my sweet child," said Margaret of York. "My
Lord of Ravestein and myself, your two nearest relatives and friends,
will each write a part under your direction : so shall the document

MABY OF BURGUNDY. 193

acquire additional weight, as showing the wishes of so many per-
sons."

This was accordingly done, and Mary calmly heard a paper read,
which she felt was binding her to misery for life. With a hurried
hand she signed her name, but she could bear no more, and hastened
from the chamber.

" Poor child !" said Margaret of York. " Poor child. But now,
my Lord of Imbercourt, lose not a moment. No communication with
this coming ambassador will answer our purpose. You must see
Louis himself; and treat with himself, and put forth all ycur wisdom
to meet all his cunning. Hasten to Peronne; fear not to bloody your
spurs on the road, for not a minute that flies, till you are before the
King of France, may not serve to recall this most necessary paper."

While this determination was adopted by the counsellors, Mary
was followed from the room by Alice of Imbercourt ; and the mo-
ment she had reached her chamber, that princess cast herself upon
the bosom of her fair attendant, and wept most bitterly. " Fear not,
madam," whispered Alice, " fear not ! You shall yet wed him you
love."

Mary had never acknowledged her lingering hopes even to Alice of
Imbercourt, perhaps hardly to her own heart. But now the more
vehement passion overcame the milder feeling, and timidity was for-
gotten in grief. " Never, Alice! never !" sobbed Mary ; " I have just
signed away my last and only chance !"

" Fear not !" again repeated the young lady. " Do you remember,
madam, when you would not read the scheme of your future fate in
the castle of Hannut ?"

"Well, very well!" replied Mary, raising her head and drying het
eyes ; " what then, my Alice ?"

"Do you remember, then, that I stayed behind," continued her
companion, " when you quitted my uncle's observatory ? Well ; I
remained behind long enough to give you consolation even now ; for
I saw there written, that the coronet of an archduchess was to bind
the brow of my fair mistress."

Mary drew a deep and doubtful sigh ; but there was a bright blush
rose also in her cheek, which might seem an augury of hope ; and it
were false to say that she did not derive some comfort even from the
predictions of a science, which, since the excitement of her visit to
the castle of Hannut had worn away, she could hardly be said to be-
lieve.

At that period, however, each day of the life of Mary of Burgundy1
was a day of renewed care and anxiety ; and the proceedings of the
next morning opened with the tedious and painful ceremony of receiv-
ing the ambassador from the French monarch.

At the hour appointed it was announced that the Count de Meulaa
waited, and Mary took her seat in state, with the Bishop of Liege on
one hand and the Duke of Cleves on the other, while Albert Maurice
and various members of the council stood round. It had struck the
young citizen, however, as soon as he entered the hall of audience,
that neither Imbercourt nor Hugonet, the two chief supporters of
what was called the French party, were present ; and it appeared to
him not a little extraordinary that they should be absent, if in the
town, when such an opportunity for showing their respect to the King

ISM MART OF BURGUNDY.

f France occurred, as the public reception of his envoy. During the
ime that elapsed between his own arrival and the introduction of the
ambassador, he asked frequently, but in vain, for the absent counsel-
lors, and on every movement near the door looked for their appear-
ance, supposing that the business of the day could not or would not
proceed without their presence. He was not a little surprised, how-
ever, when the order for admitting the Count de Meulan was at
lensth given in their absence.

The doors were soon thrown open ; and, dressed in the excess of
splendour, but with a certain crouching and stealthy pace, habitual to
the barber of the most cunning king in Europe, Olivier le Dain en-
tered the hall, and approached the chair of the princess. After the
ceremony of his introduction, which he went through, not without
grace, but without dignity, the ambassador was commanded to deli-
ver his letters, which he accordingly did. These were found to be in
full and correct form, and he was then directed to state the purport
of his embassy, and what he was charged to communicate to the
Princess of Burgundy, from her cousin the King of France.

Here, however, the envoy hesitated ; and after a moment's thought,
replied in a low, soft voice, that he was directed by his master, Louis,
the most Christian king, to explain his views and wishes to his be-
loved cousin and god-daughter the Princess Mary, in private, and to
her alone. He therefore, he said, craved a private audience, in which
Ais communication should be more full and complete.

The Bishop of Liege — whose territories lay too close to the French
frontier, and whose interests were too nearly connected with those of
France to suffer him to feel any great personal interest in the distinct
rights of the House of Burgundy — had hitherto been the person who
spoke on the part of the princess. He of course had evinced every
sort of respect for the ambassador of the French king ; but at the
point the Duke of Cleves broke in ; and with a haughty and con-
temptuous tone, informed the Count de Meulan, that what he de-
manded was not consistent with the customs of the court of Burgundy.
He must, therefore, he said, declare openly his errand to the princess,
surrounded by her council, for no other course of proceeding could be
permitted.

Again the ambassador hesitated : uttering several sentences, from
which, though loaded with fine and sounding words, and gilded with
a show of argument, all that could be gathered was, that the open
communication required by the council was contrary to his monarch's
commands. He then seemed about to retire ; but at that moment
Albert Maurice advanced a little before the rest, and craved leave to
explain the object and views of the ambassador, which that function-
ary seemed to have so much difficulty in doing for himself. The
assembled court, and the ambassador likewise, gazed on him with
some surprise ; but the young citizen proceeded.

" In the first place," he said, "your Grace will be glad to hear, who
is the noble envoy whom that mighty monarch, Louis, King of France,
thinks fit to send to the court of Burgundy: to the daughter of that
great prince who overthrew him in the field by valour and skill, and
who foiled him in the cabinet by decision and boldness. Allow me,
in the man who calls himself Count de Meulan, to introduce to your
notice Olivier le Dain, or by some called Le Mechant, barber to the

MAHI Or uuKGUNDT. 195

Tiost Christia King, born at Thielt, and serving as a barber's boy at
Saarvelt, near this city."

A roar of laughter burst from the nobles of Burgundy ; and Albert
Maurice proceeded, waving his hand to the doorkeepers to prevent
the barber from making his exit too rapidly. "Do not let the worthy
ambassador depart till he has heard me explain the object of his
coming. I hold here in my hand, by the favour of some unknown
friend who sent these papers to me, a copy of the private instructions
of the Eang of France to the Barber Ambassador, which direct him,
strictly, to keep the princess and the court of Burgundy engaged in
long and tedious negotiations, while he strives in private to persuade
the people of Ghent to invite the King of France to enter their terri-
tory. He is further ordered to spare no means, neither money nor
promises, to make the good men of this city declare for the King of
France, and throw off the authority of their lawful sovereign. To
this, by your Grace's permission, I, as the only individual of the
burgher class in this presence, will take upon me to reply, that Louis,
King of France, mistakes entirely the character and disposition of
the men of Ghent ; for, though they may be anxious to preserve their
own liberties and privileges, they are no less anxious to preserve the
legitimate authority of their sovereign ; and, though they are never
supposed to submit to tyranny from their own princes, they are no less
determined to resist all foreign domination. Let him learn that he
can neither buy us with his gold, nor fool us with his promises; and
that his intrigues and offers will be equally in vain with the men
of Ghent. It is for you, my lords," he continued, turning to the
members of the council present, " as older men, and more experienced
in the ways of courts than myself, it is for you to judge what course
ought to be pursued towards a man who comes as ambassador to a
sovereign prince, and, at the same time, undertakes to seduce the
subjects of that prince from their allegiance; who approaches the
presence of an oppressed princess, from the man who is robbing her
of her territories and massacreing her subjects, affecting in words and
in style to negotiate with her as the messenger of a friend and a re-
lation, while his real errand is to excite treason amongst her people,
and to bribe her citizens to revolt. It is for you, my lords, I say, to
judge what is to be done with the caitiff who undertakes such a com-
mission for such a man!"

"Nail his ears to the door-post!" cried the Lord of Vere, an im-
petuous noble of North Zealand."

"Throw him into the river!" cried the Duke of Cleves; "such
treatment does he well deserve."

Various other pleasant modes of disposing of the person of the
barber ambassador were suggested by different members of the coun-
cil, probably without any intention of carrying them into effect. They
were not, however, without producing some impression, and that of no
very agreeable nature, upon the mind of Olivier le Dain himself. That
worthy personage had listened to the speech of Albert Maurice in
downcast silence. No flush betrayed his agitation or shame, though
his lip quivered a little, and at one time he took two or three steps
towards the door. But when he heard the many unceremonious
methods of treatment proposed, iie gradually crept back till he wa*
within a step of the entrance of the chamber. His face was

19S MARY OF BURGUNDr

turned towards the council ; and he still seemed listening attentively
to the somewhat bitter strictures which were passing upon his own
conduct ; but he showed no inclination to retreat farther than was
absolutely necessary to keep himself out of the reach of violent hands,
so that the doorkeepers were off their guard. As the Duke of Cleves
spoke, the barber paused and listened, gave a furtive glance over his
shoulder ; and then, without any effort towards taking leave, he darted
out of the presence at once, reached the court-yard, mounted his horse,
and galloped away to the inn where he had lodged.

Before he arrived at that building, however, he began to feel that
his apprehensions of personal violence had probably been a little too
hasty ; and a loud laugh, which he remembered to have heard, as he
quitted the audience-hall, confirmed him in that opinion. The calm
reflection of a few hours, during which he seemed totally forgotten by
the whole town, refreshed his courage and re-animated his hopes ; and
therefore, not to abandon his purpose without another effort, he ven-
tured to ride out in the evening ; but the moment that he presented
himself in the streets, he was greeted with so much mockery and
laughter, that he soon found the attempt would be vain. A full ac-
count of his birth and situation had been industriously circulated
amongst the people during the day ; and as nothing excites the hatred
and contempt of the populace more than to see a person sprung from
amongst themselves, affecting the airs and splendour of a class above
them, they were all prepared to shower upon his head every sort of
ridicule and abuse. No sooner did he appear than this determination
to insult and annoy him in every different way, began to manifest
itself among the people. One held a pewter basin before his horse's
head ; another lifted up his rugged chin, and begged that his highness
would shave him, just to keep his hand in ; and a third exclaimed,
that he must not think to lead the people of Ghent by the nose,
though he might often have taken the King of France by that organ.

Just while he was turning away from these unpleasant salutations,
in order to return as fast as possible to his hotel, some shouts met his
ear, which seemed rapidly coming nearer, and in a moment after he
perceived half a dozen horsemen cantering easily down the street, with
a number of men and boys running by the sides of the horses, shouting
loudly, " Long live the Duke of Gueldres ! long live the noble Duke
of Gueldres !" The horseman at their head was a powerful handsome
man, of about fifty, with a coarse and bold expression of countenance,
but still possessing that easy air of dignity and command, which is a
part of the education of princes. Some one, as the cavalcade ap-
proached, recognizing the person of the French ambassador by his
splendid dress and gaudy train, shouted out the name and various op-
posite occupations of Master Olivier le Dain ; and the Duke of Guel-
dres, dashing on, drove his horse rudely against that of the unfortu-
nate barber, which reared with the stroke, and almost plunged him
into the canal, near which they were riding.

"Ha, ha! Master Barber," shouted the duke, in the rough and
brutal tone which he usually employed, when he had no purpose to
answer which might require softer speech; "thou canst never shave
without water, man, but there is plenty in the canal."

The populace roared their applause; and while Olivier le Dain,
keeping his seat with difficulty, made the best of his way back to his

STARV OF UURGCNDT. 137

Inn, and thence for ever out of the gates of Ghent, the Eulrc of Guel
dres rode on, nor stopped till he sprang from his horse at the house of
Albert Maurice.

Eepresentatives from all the different cities of that part of Belgium
which was then under the dominion of Burgundy, had arrived in
Ghent the day before ; and at the moment when the Duke of Gueldres
approached, the young president was in the act of despatching a de-
putation to Louis XL then encamped at Arras. Albert Maurice, be
it remarked, went not himself; but at the head of the deputation, oa
the part of Ghent, was the druggist Ganay.

The Duke ot Gueldres found the street before the young citizen's
house crowded with horses and horse boys ; and the different cham-
bers of the house itself filled with the attendants of the deputies and
the officers of the city — messengers, visiters, soldiers, and spectators —
displayed a spectacle more like the palace of a sovereign prince, than
the house of a simple merchant in a Flemish town.

"By my faith," the duke muttered, as he walked on amidst robes,
and embroidery, and gold chains, and furred gowns, " times have
strangely changed with the good city of Ghent, since that cursed
tyrant shut me up in his old stone rat-trap. Which is Albert Maurice?"
he then demanded of a merchant who was passing out; "which is
the grand bailli — -which is the president of the municipal council ?"

" Yonder he stands at the head of the table," replied the merchant,
" speaking with the deputies of Utrecht and Bruges."

At that moment the eye of the young citizen fell upon the Duke of
Gueldres ; and — though he was unannounced, and Albert Maurice
had never beheld him before — either from having heard his personal
appearance described, or from having seen some picture of him, the
burgher at once recognised the prince, and advanced a step or two to
meet him.

The Duke of Gueldres was surprised to behold so young a man
chosen from amongst the jealous and factious citizens of Ghent, to
wield the chief authority of the city, to fill two of the most important
offices, and to influence so strongly the councils of all Flanders ; but
he was still more surprised to find that high and dignified tone in the
merchant, which so well became his station. He had been prepared
to see the president in possession of vast power, but he now perceived
that his power was greatly derived from his superiority to his class,
and he at once saw the necessity of suiting his demeanour, for the
time at least, to the man. With a degree of suavity which no ons
knew better how to assume, when it answered his purpose, than Adol«
phus, Duke of Gueldres, that base and brutal prince, now, with hia
manner softened down to an appearance of mere generous frankness,
thanked the young citizen for his liberation, and told him that he had
good reason to know that the happy event was solely owing to his
intervention.

Albert Maurice at once gracefully complimented the duke on his
enlargement, and disclaimed all title to gratitude for an act which., he
said, emanated from the princess herself. He had, he acknowledged,
strongly advised her to the course she had pursued, when she had
condescended to consult him upon the subject ; but he assured the
duke that she had first spoken of her kinsman's liberation, before iaa
had ventured to propose such a proceeding.

198 MART OF Btm<!UNDT.

" Well, well," replied the duke, " I knew not that my fair cousin
was so generous, but I will kiss her pretty cheek in token of my
thanks, which, perhaps, she will think no unpleasant way of showing
one's gratitude."

The blood rushed up to the temples of the young citizen ; but he
made no reply, and merely bowed low. He then begged the duke to
excuse him for a few moments, while he concluded the business in
which he had been engaged. The prince replied that he would detain
him no longer ; and Albert Maurice, with cold and formal courtesy,
suffered him to depart — from that moment either a secret or aa
avowed enemy. As soon as he was gone, the young citizen took leave
of the deputies, besought them to make all speed to meet the king,
and directed them to beg him — instead of hastening on to plunge tho
two nations into long and sanguinary wars — to halt his armies, til]
such time as the states general could devise and propose to his ma-
jesty some fair means of general pacification.

He then gave into the hands of Ganay a letter fully authorizing th&
deputation to treat, in the name of the princess, which instrument had
been unwillingly wrung from Mary during the morning, notwith-
standing the secret powers which she had so lately given to Imber-
court and Hugonet. To this Albert Maurice added a private injunction,
to trace and discover all the movements of the two ministers, whose
absence from the council of that day he had remarked : and there was
a sort of fierce and flashing eagerness in the eye of the young citizen,
as he spoke this in a low whisper, which the druggist marked with
pleasure and expectation.*

The results of this deputation to the crafty monarch of France are
so well known, that they need but short recapitulation. Louis re-
ceived the members of the Belgian states with all civility, and treated
them individually with distinction ; as that wily monarch well knew,
that through the intervention of such men alone he could hope to win
that extensive territory, which he was striving to add to France. At
the same time, he positively refused to treat with them in their official
capacity, and affected, at first, a great degree of mystery in regard to
his reasons for so doing, assigning a thousand vague and unsatisfac-
tory motives, which he well knew would not be believed for a moment,
but which he was aware would induce the deputies— encouraged by
his homely and good-humoured manner — to press so strongly for a
further explanation, as to afford him some excuse for the base treachery
he meditated against their sovereign.

The deputies fell into the trap he laid ; made use of every argument
to induce him to negotiate with them upon the powers they had re-
ceived from their several cities ; and finally urged, that if he would
not acknowledge them as the representatives of the towns of Flanders,
Hainault, and Brabant, he must at least consent to receive them as
ambassadors from the young Duchess of Burgundy, whose letters of
authority they then tendered.

* The proceedings of the municipal council of Ghent, even before the assembling
of the states, which it entirely commanded, were, in many instances, much mora
bold and tyrannical than any that it has seemed necessary to particularize here.
Some authors assort that it forbade Mar; to transact any public business without iM
sanction.

MARY OF BURGUNDr. 199

Still, however, Louis refused; and, at length, as if worn out by
importunity, he said, "My good friends of Ghent and the other towns
of Flanders, you must very well know, from my whole conduct to-
wards you, that I would rather treat with you than with any other
persons. I am a plain man, and love to deal with plain citizens ; bu|
you are entirely mistaken in supposing that you possess the conft
dence of my dear god-child Mary, Duchess of Burgundy, or that you
are really authorized to treat for her. It is not impossible," he added,
with a self-satisfied and yet mysterious air, "it is not at all impossible,
that, were I so disposed, I might show you a letter, written partly
in her own hand, partly in that of the Duchess Dowager, and partly
in that of the good Lord of Ravestein, directing me to place confi-
dence in no persons but my excellent good friends, and faithful ser-
vants, the Lord of Imbercourt, and William de Hugonet, Chancellor
of Burgundy, who were both with me at Peronne for many hours
some nights ago, and are by this time back again in Ghent."

The deputies, confounded and surprised, expressed, in the first
heat of their astonishment, a very uncourtly doubt of the truth of
the king's statement; and Louis, affecting to consider his honour
impugned, committed one of the basest acts of the many that stain
his memory, and produced the private letter of the Princess Mary to
the eyes of her turbulent and headstrong subjects. Furious with
indignation and disappointment, the deputies retired from the pre-
sence of the king, without having concluded anything, and journeyed
on with all speed towards Ghent, neglecting the great and vital busi-
ness of the moment, in order to plunge into fresh scenes of anarchy
and confusion.

Louis saw them depart with scorn and triumph; and, as proud of
his successful villany as ever conqueror was of a final victory, he
marched on to new successes in every direction, satisfied that, in the
discontented spirit of the people of Ghent, he had a faithful ally that
not even self-interest could sever from him.

CHAPTER XXVI.

It is wonderful, though common to a proverb, that days of sunshiny
brightness and placid tranquillity should so often precede great con-
vulsions in the natural and the political world; and that although
"coming events often cast their shadows before them," yet that the
storm, when it does approach, should almost always find the world
all smiling, and the birds in song.

The day after the return of the deputation from Arras, the aspect
of the city of Ghent was more like that which it had been during the
most brilliant days of Philippe the Good and Charles the Bold, than
it had appeared for many months. The shops and booths, which pro-
jected into the street, and which, being totally unprovided with any
means of defence against popular violence, were generally closed in
times of tumult and disturbance, were now again all open, and full
of the finest wares. Mountebanks of different grades, and those who
sold books, and repeated verses, were exercising their usual vocatione
at the corners of the streets. Burghers and their wives, lords snd
ladies, artisans and peasantry, all in their gayest dresses — for it x w

200 MAKV OP BURGUNDY.

one of the high festivals of the year — moved about in the streets
and, to crown all. the foul weather had disappeared, and the sun
ehone out with a warm and promising beam.

A great multitude had collected near the palace gates, to see the
different members of the council, and the deputies from the various
cities and states of Flanders and Brabant, proceed in state to visit
the Princess Mary ; and the approbation of the crowd, often depend-
ing not a little upon the splendour of the several trains, was loudly
expressed as their peculiar favourites approached the gates of the
great court. At the same time it was remarkable, that though loud
and vociferous in their applause, the multitude restrained all marks
of disapprobation on the appearance of persons supposed to be unpo-
pular, with wonderful and unexpected moderation.

Since the first effervescence of feeling had subsided, after the defeat
of Nancy and the death of Charles the Bold, and since the apprehen-
sion of immediate revolt had gone by, the ministers of Mary of Bur-
gundy— or, to speak more correctly, the members of the provincial
council of Flanders — though spending the greater part of the day in
the palace, had generally returned to inhabit their own hotels at
night. Thus, almost every one but the Lord of Eavestein, who
remained in the palace with his cousin, had to traverse the crowd in
their way to the audience hall. Imbercourt aud Hugonet, neither
of whom had ever been very popular, passed amidst profound silence,
and Maillotm du Bac, who, in his official dress as Prevot, was riding
about the ground, took no small credit to himself for saving those
two noblemen from some sort of insult. The Duke of Cleves again,
was loudly cheered ; but the Duke of Gueldres, who, by some means
unknown even to himself, had acquired an extraordinary degree of
popularity during the short time which had elapsed since his return
to the city, received a degree of applause that went far beyond that
which greeted the Duke of Cleves. Albert Maurice, however, as the
great favourite of the people, and one whom they considered more
peculiarly as their own representative, was received with loud, long-
continued, and reiterated shouts. Indeed, as he rode on upon a
splendid and fiery horse, dressed in magnificent apparel — not only as
president of the council of Ghent and grand bailli of the city, but as
holding, in the capacity of chief pensionary, the presidency of the
states general of Flanders* — and followed by a number of guards
and attendants, with his lordly air and his beautiful person, he looked
more like some mighty prince going to claim his bride, than a simple
merchant about to appear before his sovereign.

The visit was one of ceremony, and as no business of importance
was to be transacted, the princess received her court in state; and,
to see the splendour with which she was surrounded, the guards, the
attendants, the kneeling subjects, no one would have supposed, as
was indeed the case, that Mary of Burgundy was less a free agent
than the meanest subject in her capital.

All who presented themselves before the princess were received
with affability and courtesy, with the one exception of the Duke of

* When the states of Flanders assembled in Ghent, which was generally the case
cither the chief pensionary or the chief eschevin of that eity presided in the assembly
bb a matter of right.

MAItY OF BURGUNDT. 201

Gtieldres, from whom, as he approached the chair of state, she seemed
to shrink with a repulsive abhorrence, which she could in no degree
command. Although he appeared there contrary to her commands,
she strove to say something kind in regard to his liberation, and to
smile as he offered his thanks ; but the words died away before they
were uttered, and the smile faded upon her lip as soon as it appeared.
To Imbercourt and Hugonet, the Lord of Vere and others, who sup-
ported the French alliance — although they had so strongly pressed
her to sacrifice all her own personal feelings, and to abandon the hope
of happiness for life — she still, from a deep conviction of the honesty
of their intentions, and from long habits of regard, yielded the same
marks of friendship and affection with which she had always distin-
guished the counsellors and friends of her father, however much their
advice to him or to herself had been at times opposed to her own
opinion, or to her dearest wishes. On Albert Maurice, too, as the
boldest and strongest supporter of her own wishes against the voice
of her more politic advisers, and as the leader of those who really
ruled in Flanders, she smiled sweetly, from a feeling of gratitude as
well as esteem ; and none who beheld the young citizen in the midst
of that splendid court, could help acknowledging that he was well
fitted, in appearance at least, to take his place among the noblest
and most courtly of the land. His mien had all the calm dignity of
power and the easy grace of confident but not presuming self-posses-
sion. There was also a freshness and variety in his words and actions,
which, springing from a rich and generous mind, gave a sparkling
grace to the whole of his demeanour, and rendered it at once striking
and pleasing. There was certainly a difference in his manners from
that of the stiff and stately nobles of the court of Burgundy, but it
was slight, and to his advantage, characterized by no want of grace
or dignity, but rather by the calm ease of natural politeness, as
opposed to the acquired formality of courtly etiquette. It seemed,
not that he was assuming a rank, and mingling amidst a class to
which he did not belong — but rather as if he had suddenly taken
possession of a station which was his own by the indefeasible title of
ennobling nature. The respect and deference also with which all the
rest of the court felt themselves obliged to treat him, both from his
authority over the people, and the powers of his own mind, placed
him at his ease ; and perhaps the very excitement which he felt under
the eyes of Mary of Burgundy, and the mighty aspirations and bril-
liant hopes which thrilled in his bosom, were not without their share
511 giving firmness and dignity to the step with which he trod the
ducal halls of the house of Burgundy.

Thus passed by the morning ; and everything proceeded in undis-
turbed harmony and tranquillity, both within the Cours du Prince and
without its walls. The populace showed themselves calm and placa-
ble ; and it had seldom happened of late that so many nobles and
statesmen, of different opinions and different interests, had met withia
the gates of that palace with so little jarring and contention. Never<
theless, there were things observed by many of the keen eyes whicli
always hang about courts and watch the flickering signs of the times,
that boded events not quite so pacific and gentle as the first aspect c|
affairs might augur. Between Albert Maurice and the Lord of Imber«
court no words passed ; but, when their glances encountered upon

202 MARY OF BURGUNDY.

more than one occasion, the lordly brow of the young citizen became
overcast, and a Are blazed up in his eye, which spoke no very cordial
feeling towards that nobleman. Imbercourt himself, whose demeanour
through life had always been characterized by calm gravity, not abso-
lutely approaching sadness, but still far removed from cheerfulness,
had, since the death of his master, shown himself more gloomy and
reserved than he had ever before appeared ; and, on the present occa-
sion, there was a deep immovable sternness in his countenance which
had something in it more profound than can be expressed by the
word melancholy. He met the fiery glance of the young citizen,
however, calm and unchanged. His eyelid never fell, his brow con-
tracted not a line, his lip remained unmoved. Not a trace of emotion
of any kind passed over his face, as he endured rather than returned
the gaze of the young citizen ; and, after remaining a few minutes in
the princess's presence, he took his leave, mounted his horse, and rode
homewards. But as he passed by Maillotin du Bac, and addressed
some common observation to that officer, there was a sort of trium
phant sneer on the hard countenance of the Prevot, and an unnatural
degree of courtesy in his manner, from which, those who saw it in-
ferred no very favourable anticipations in his mind regarding the
Lord of Imbercourt.

When the whole ceremony was over, and Mary of Burgundy was
left alone with Alice of Imbercourt, and a few of her other attendants,
her heart seemed lightened of a load, and a smile brightened her
countenance for the first time since her father's death.

"Thank God, Alice," she said, "that it is over. I was very anxious
about the passing by of this morning, for I feared much that some
angry clashing might have taken place, concerning the messengers
despatched to the cruel King of France. But you are sad, Alice,"
she continued, seeing the fair face of her gay friend overcast with
unusual clouds, which probably had arisen from the increased gloom
she had observed upon the countenance of her father ; " you are sad,
Alice — you, whose gay and happy spirit seems formed by heaven to
bear up against everything."

" I know not well how it is, your Grace," replied Alice, with a sigh;
"nothing particular has happened to make me so; and yet, I own,
my heart feels more gloomy than it generally does on such a sunshiny
day."

" Nay, Alice," replied the princess, " you must be sad, indeed, to
call Mary of Burgundy 'your Grace,' when from our earliest years we
have grown up together as sisters more than friends. But be not
gloomy, dear Alice ; all will, I trust, go well. There is not that evil,
in all this sorrowful world, which could shake my trust in an over-
ruling Providence, or make me doubt that the end will yet be good."

"But sorrows must sometimes happen," replied Alice; "and in
that book — which I wish I had never looked into — in the cabinet at
Hannut, I saw that some time soon you were to lose two faithful
friends : I wonder if I shall be one."

" Heaven forbid, dear Alice !" replied the princesg. " However, I
am sorry that you have told me :" and she fell into a deep and some-
what painful reverie, from which she only roused herself, to propose
that they should go to the apartments of the Dowager Duchess, Mar-
garet, who inhabited the other wing of the building.

MARY OF BURGUNDY. 205

Alice willingly followed ; and Margaret — though, in her grief and
widowhood, she had taken no part in the ceremonies of the day — re-
ceived her fair visiters with gladness, and inquired with some anxiety
how the morning and its events had passed away. Her mind was of
that firm and equable, though gentle tone, which feels every misfor-
tune intensely, but bears it with unshaken resolution ; and it is s
quality of such minds to communicate a part of their own tranquil
and enduring power to others with whom they are brought in contact.
Thus Mary of Burgundy always felt more calm and more resigned,
after conversing long with Margaret of York than before ; and if, in
the present instance, her design in visiting her stepmother was to ob-
tain some such support, she was not disappointed. Both herself and
Alice of Imbercourt returned from the apartments of the duchess less
gloomy than when they went ; and the vague omens which had given
rise to their melancholy were dropped and forgotten, especially as
nothing occurred during the rest of the morning to recall them to the
mind of either the princess or her fair attendant. The day went by
in peace and tranquillity. The multitudes dispersed and retired to
their own homes. The brief sunshine of a winter's day soon lapsed
into the dark, cold night ; and a thick white fog, rolling densely up-
from the many rivers and canals that intersect the town of Ghent,
rendered all the streets doubly obscure. Several of the hours of dark-
ness also went by in tranquillity : though the glare of many torches,
lighting various groups of persons, through the dim and vapoury
atmosphere, and casting round them a red and misty halo of circum-
scribed light, together with the shouting voices of people who had lost
their way, and the equally loud replies of those who strove to set them
right, broke occasionally upon the still quiet of the streets of Ghent.
during the course of the evening.

All this, too passed away, and the hour approached for resigning the
body and the mind to that mysterious state of unconscious apathy,
which seems given to show that we can die, as far as sentient being
goes, and yet live again, after a brief pause of mental extinction.
Mary of Burgundy, whose days — if ever the days of mortal being did
so — should have passed in peace, was about to retire to rest, thanking
Heaven that one more scene in life's long tragedy was over. Her fair
hair was cast over her shoulders, in soft and silky waves, and she was
thinking — with the natural comment of sorrow upon human life —
" how sweet a thing is repose!" Although she had assumed in pub-
lic the state of a sovereign princess, in private she had hitherto dis-
pensed with that burdensome etiquette, which renders the domestic
hours of princes little less tedious than their public ceremonies. Her
ladies were all dismissed to rest before she herself retired to her own
apartment, and two tiring women of inferior rank were all that re-
mained to aid her in the toilet of the night. Those women, whose
tvhole intellects were limited in their range to the thoughts of dress
and ornament, contented themselves with performing their several
offices about the person of the princess, and leaving her mind to re-
flection. Thus, perhaps, the hour which she spent each night in her
own chamber, ere she lay down to rest, was one of the sweetest por-
tions of time to Mary of Burgundy. It was the hour in which her
heart, relieved from all the pressure of the day, could commune with
Itself at ease ; and, could one have looked iato her bosom on that op

204 MAitr of BunocsDy.

any other night, the whole course of her life gives reason to believ^
that it would have displayed as fine and pure a tissue of sweet and
noble ideas, as ever the thoughts of woman wove. Her toilet for the
night, however, had proceeded but a short way, on the present occa-
sion, when the door of the chamber was thrown open with unceremo-
nious haste, and Alice of Imbercourt, pale, agitated, trembling, with
her own brown hair streaming over her shoulders like that of tlia
princess, showing how sudden had been the news that so affected her,
rushed into the apartment, and, casting herself upon her knees before
Mary, hid her eyes upon the lap of the princess, and wept so bitterly
as to deprive herself of utterance.

" What is the matter, my dear Alice ? What is the matter, my
sweet girl ?" demanded Mary, anxiously. " Speak, speak, dear Alice !
what has happened so to affect you ?"

"Oh, madam, madam!" sobbed Alice; "my father — my dear
father !"

" What of him ?" exclaimed Mary, turning deadly pale. " What
has happened to him, Alice ? tell me, I beseech you !"

"Oh, madam, they have arrested him and the Lord of Hugonet!"
replied Alice, " and have dragged them from their beds, loaded with
chains, to the town-prison!"

" Good God !" cried Mary, clasping her hands, " will they deprive
me of all my friends ? Has not the gold of Louis tempted all feeble
hearts from my service, and will my own subjects take from me the
only ones who have been found firm ?"

"They will kill them: be sure they will kill them!" exclaimed
Alice. " There is only one person on the earth can save them ; and.
alas ! I fear these butchers of Ghent will be too quick in their mur-
der for him to come."

"Who do you mean, dear girl?" asked Mary. "Who is there
you think can aid them? What do you propose? Let us lose no
time ; but take any way to save their lives. Some one," she added,
turning to her tiring women, " go to my mother, the duchess ; tell
her I would fain speak with her. Now, Alice, what way do you
propose ?"

" Oh, let me go !" cried Alice, wildly, "let me go! Let me lose
uot a moment of time! I will easily find him out, or send on
messengers — or bring him by some way! Let me go, I beg — I en-
treat !"

" But of whom do you speak ?" again demanded Mary. " You for-
get, dear Alice, I know not what you mean."

"I mean!" replied Alice, while a slight blush passed rapidly over
her countenance, and was immediately again succeeded by the eager
and terrified paleness which had before appeared there : " I mean — I
mean the Vert Gallant of Hannut. 'Tis scarce three days ago, that,
by a letter from Hannut, Hugh de Mortmar bade me seek aid and
assistance from him, if any thing happened, in the tumults of this
city, to cause me danger or distress. He said that the Vert Gallant
owed him much. Let me go, madam, I beseech you."

" But you cannot go alone, dear Alice," said the princess, gazing
upon her almost as much bewildered as she was herself; "you can-
not go alone, and at this hour of the night. At all events, you must
Ihave a party of the guards.*'

HAr.V OF EURGUNDT". 205

"Oh, no, no!" cried Alice; "they will only let one person go
through the gates at a time; and there are men here set to watch the
river, so that no large boat can pass."

At this moment the Dowager Duchess of Burgundy entered the
chamber of her step-daughter ; and Mary was beginning to explain
the circumstances, as far as she had been able to gather them from
her terrified companion, when she found that Margaret was already
acquainted with many more particulars concerning the arrest of Im-
bercourt and Hugonet than herself. So daring an act on the part of
the turbulent men of Ghent, as the arrest of two members of the
supreme council of Flanders, of course terrified and shocked both
Mar}' and her step-mother. But their personal apprehensions for
the future, and consideration of the long series of calamities and hor-
rors which such a deed portended, were overpowered by the wila
agony of the daughter of one of those victims of popular sedition.
The tears poured over her cheeks, her fair hands clasped in convul-
sive agony, till the taper fingers seemed as if they would have bro-
ken ; and still she besought the princess, with wild eagerness, to per-
mit her instant departure in search of him on whose assistance she
seemed to place her only hope of delivering her father.

Mary called upon her stepmother to second her arguments, for the
purpose of persuading Alice to secure some protection and assistance,
at least in her attempt to escape from the town, and in the difficult
search she proposed to undertake for one, whose character was so
doubtful, and whose dwelling was so uncertain. But Margaret, ani-
mated by a bolder spirit, saw the proposal in a different light, and
supported strongly the desire of Alice, to seek the assistance shy
hoped for, accompanied alone by the page.

" Great things," she said, " have been done by less men than this
adventurer seems to be. Many a battle between York and Lancaster
has been won by the aid of foresters and outlaws. If you can once
secure his assistance, and he can, by any of those strange means which
he has been often know to employ so successfully, introduce his bands
within the town, these rebellious men of Ghent may yet be taught a
lesson which they have much need to learn. Go, then, my poor
girl, if you have any probable means of discovering the abode of him
you seek. Take the page with you, furnish yourself with all the
money and jewels which you can collect. The princess and I will do
our best to contribute, for with such men gold is better than elo-
quence; and, at all events, you will have the satisfaction of doing
your duty towards your father."

"In the meantime, Alice," added Mary, "be not more anxious than
necessary for your father's safety. These men will, doubtless, never
attempt anything against his life without bringing him to trial. All
the preparations must take long, and I will leave no means unused
to delay their proceedings, and to mitigate their rancour. I will send
for the president; I will speak with him myself. I will entreat, I
will beseech, I will rather lay down my own life than that they
should hurt my faithful servants."

"Thank you; thank you, dear lady!" replied Alice, kissing her
hand ; " thank you, thank you for your comfort ! But I must go," she
added, with eager anxiety; " I must not lose a moment."

" Stay, stay !" said the young duchess, seeing her about to da-

206 MARY OF BUIIGUNDY.

part. "Let Bertha call the page whom we employed before, an J we
will determine on some better plans than your own unassisted fancy
can frame."

It would be unnecessary here to enter into the minute details of all
that ensued ; and, indeed, so rapidly were the arrangements concluded,
that many words would only serve to give a false impression of tilings
that were resolved and executed in a few brief moments. Suffice it,
then, that the page was soon brought to the presence of the prin-
cess ; and, in eager and hasty consultation, it was determined that
he should proceed in search of a small skiff, which, being brought
opposite to the palace wall, on the water side, would enable Alice to
make her escape with less chance of observation than if she attempted
to pass the gates either on horseback or on foot, at that hour of the
night.

No large boat would be allowed to proceed, and therefore he was
directed to seek the smallest that he could possibly find ; but, at the
same time, to use all his shrewdness in endeavouring to discover some
boatman, who was either trustworthy by native honesty, or might be
rendered secret by a bribe. The boy at once declared in reply, that
he well knew a man who used to bring the duke's venison up from
the woods, and whose taciturnity was so great, that those who knew
him averred, he had never said ten words to anybody yet in life, nor
ever would say ten words more.

In search of this very desirable person the page instantly proceeded ;
but, either from the darkness of the night, or from having found it
difficult to wake the boatman out of his first sleep, the boy was so
long in returning, that all Alice's preparations for her journey were
completed, and many minutes spent in agonizing anxiety, ere he re-
appeared. When he did come, however, he brought the glad tidings
that all was ready; and, after taking leave of the princess, Alice of
Imbercourt, with a rapid but silent step, threaded the dark and intri-
cate passages of the palace, passed the postern unquestioned, and
finding her way with difficulty through the dim and foggy air, to the
steps which led towards the water, stood at length by the side of the
boat. Stepping forward over some unsteady planks, she was speedily
seated in the stern, with the boy beside her; the single boatman,
whom they had found waiting, pushed silently away from the bank,
and, in a minute after, the skiff was making its slow way through the
fog, down the dull current of the Scheldt.

CHAPTER XXVI.

Although other matters of some moment might claim attention
in this place, we will not interrupt the course of our narrative, but
will follow, throughout her journey, the fair fugitive from the city
of Ghent, as far, at least, as that journey was permitted to proceed
unimpeded.

The boat glided along over the calm dull bosom of the Scheldt,
with hardly any noise, except the occasional dip of the oar in the
water, and the slight creaking of the gunnel as the rower plied his
Btroke. Every one knows that the river which, a little distance fur-
ther down its stream, assumes so much importance as to be the ok-

MAHV OF BURGUNDY. 20~

ject of intrigue, negotiation, and even war, to rival nations, presents
no very imposing aspect in the neighbourhood of Ghent; but so
gloomy was the moonless sky, and so dense was the heavy fog which
hung over the waters, that from the moment the boat had pushed off
from the quay both banks became quite invisible. The deep, misty
obscurity of the atmosphere, and the profound darkness of the night,
might have been a cause of terror to Alice of Imbercourt under any
other circumstances ; but now all apprehension of danger from the
want of light and the difficulties of the navigation, was swallowed up
in the fear of being overtaken or impeded in her escape ; and the im-
penetrable veil which seemed to cover all things around her she
looked upon as a blessing, in the hope that it would also conceal her-
self. The darkness, however, which gave this feeling of security, did
not continue so completely uninterrupted as to leave her entirely
without alarm. Now and then, as the boat shot past some of the
warehouses, or the quays where the larger craft were moored, an in-
distinct dim line of light would break across the mist from lamp or
lantern, hung up to show the late watcher the objects of his toil or
of his anxiety ; and the heart of poor Alice would beat quick with
fear, lest the skiff or those it contained, should attract the eye of any of
the eager and wary citizens. But all these perils were soon past;
the boatman rowed strongly and well ; the slow current with which
they were proceeding was not powerful enough to afford much assis-
tance to his exertions, but still the boat skimmed swiftly over the
waters, and ere long the last bridge was passed. Beyond it there
extended along the banks a short suburb, terminated by scattered
houses belonging to cowfeeders and gardeners, and forming a sort of
brief connecting link between the wide open country and the for-
tified city; and further on, again, came the rich fluids and mea-
dows in the immediate vicinity of the town, blending gradually into
the thick woods that at that time commenced about Heusden and
Melle.

Alice's heart beat more freely, as the fresher air, the slight clearing
away of the mist, the occasional lowing of the cattle, and that indes-
cribable feeling of expanse which is only known in the countrj-, showed
her — though she could not yet see the objects on the banks — that she.
/lad passed beyond the limits of the city of Ghent. The page, too,
felt the same relief, and, for the first time, ventured a whispered ob-
servation on the good fortune that had attended their movements.
But Alice was still too fearful of being pursued or discovered to utter
anything but a low-toned injunction to be silent ; and no further
sound marked their course but the stroke of the oars, as the sturdy
boatman impelled them on, unwearied, over the waters of the Scheldt,

At the distance of about three miles from the city, the air became
gradually less dense, and at the end of half a mile more the fog had
cleared away entirely. It was still dark, but the stars afforded suffi-
cient light to show the fair fugitive and her companion that they were
passing through a country where the meadow and the cornfield were
merging in the forest. Scattered patches of copse and underwood,
mingled with fields which had been reclaimed to the use of man,
came sweeping down to the banks of the river; and straight before
the travellers lay a dark and shadowy track, broken into dense, heavy
masses, the rounded forms of which, cutting black upun the ligu^,'

208 SZAHY OP BUEGUNDY.

sky beyond, distinguished it as wood, from the soft sweeping lirjes of
the uplands which in other directions marked the horison.

There is scarcely anything on earth more gloomy and impressive
than the aspect of a deep wood by night, with just sufficient light in
the sky to contrast strongly with the stern body of impenetrable shade
presented by the forest, and yet not enough to show any of the smaller
parts into which it appears separated by day. The wood lay straight
before the bow of the boat, seeming to swallow up the widening course
of the Scheldt, as flowing on, it reflected here and there the faint lines
of light which it caught from the sky, and which served to mark its
track, till it was lost in the sombre shadows of the trees. An indefi-
nite feeling of dread passed through the bosom of Alice of Imbercourt
as the boat cut its way on towards the dark and gloomy wilderness
which the forest seemed to present at that hour of the night. She
believed, indeed, that she had no cause for fear; and her own peculiar
■ plans absolutely required that she should banish all timidity of the
kind that she now felt. Soms inquiry, however, was necessary, in
order to guide her further movements ; and, as her apprehensions of
pursuit had by this time vanished, she addressed a few words to the
boatman, to lead him into conversation regarding the part of the
country at which they had now arrived.

" Those seem very dark and extensive woods," she said ; " do we
pass through them?"

" Yes, noble lady," replied the man, and struck on with more vigour
than before, as if he considered the time occupied by the three words
he spoke as lost to all profitable employment.

"Are they safe to travel at night?" demanded the young lady
again.

" No, noble lady," was all the reply she received.

" But do you mean that it is dangerous to pass through them in a
boat ?" inquired Alice.

" I cannot tell, madam," answered the man ; but still he rowed on,
and the page, laughing with the thoughtless glee of youth, whispered
that the attempt was vain to make silent Martin give them any infor-
mation, as he had never been known to speak ten words to an end in
his life. By this time, they were within the limits of the forest, and
nothing surrounded them on every side but the trees dipping down
their branches over the water. Alice, however, ventured one more
question, to which the answer she received, though as short, was more
satisfactory than those the boatman had formerly given.

" How far does the wood extend?" she demanded.

" Three quarters of a league, noble lady," replied the boatman, and
again plied his oar in silence.

Whether Alice's voice and his reply had called attention, or whether
the stroke of the oars itself could be heard at the banks, cannot be
determined ; but the man had answered but a moment, when a slight
plash was heard from behind a little projection of the shore, on which
an old oak had planted itself, spreading its roots down to the very
river. Then came a rushing sound, as of something impelled quickly
through the water, succeeded by the regular sweep of oars, and, in a
moment after, a boat rowed by two strong men darted out into the
mid-stream, and followed rapidly after that in which Alice sat. Still
silent Martin, as the boy called him, pulled stoutly on without a word,

MARY OF BURGUTTDf .

2U3

but the superior power of the two men who pursued soon brought
them alongside of the boat, and, grappling her tight, they addressed
the boatman in a tone rough, but not uncivil.

" So ho, friend !" they cried ; " stop a bit. What news from Ghent?
How goes the good city?"

" Well ! well ! my masters," replied the boatman, still striving to
impel his skiff forward, though the proximity of the other boat ren-
dered the effort to use his oars unavailing.

" It is silent Martin," said one of the men, "and a fair dame, by the
Lord! Who have you here, Master Martin?"

" There, there," replied the boatman, with what appeared to be an
immense effort to make an oration ; " let me get on. You do not stop
women, my masters. Surely you would never stop a lady like that:"'
And exhausied with this long speech, he again tried to push away
from the other boat, but in vain.

"No, no," cried one of the men, "we will not stop the lady long;
but every one who rows upon the Scheldt now-a-days must have a
pass from the captain. So come along, Master Martin; and when you
and the young lady have given ali the news of Ghent, that, doubtless,
you can give — for certainly young ladies do not come up the Scheldt
at this hour of the night for nothing — we will let you go on your way."

" Fine times !" said silent Martin ; but as resistance was in vain, he
suffered them to pilot his boat to the mouth of the little creek from
which their own had shot out; and he himself, with a certain degree
of awkward gentleness, aided Alice of Imbercourt to land.

Her feelings were of a very mixed nature ; but, assuredly, not such
as might be imagined from a consideration of the more obvious cir-
cumstances of her situation. She was certainly terrified as well as
agitated, and she trembled a good' deal ; but, at the same time, she
showed no unwillingness to obey the commands of those who now had
her in their power. Her terror, however, did not escape the eyes of
the men who had rowed the other boat, and one of them addressed
her in a kindly tone, saying, "Fear not, fear not. No lady ever
suffered harm or dishonour from the green riders of Hannut. So do not
be alarmed, and you shall soon be free to go whithersoever you will."

These words, which he spoke as they were landing, seemed to re-
assure the fair traveller more than they would, probably, have dont
most other people at such a moment.

" Oh, where is he ?" she exclaimed, eagerly. " Lead me to him, 1
beseech you. It is he whom I am now seeking."

" Ay, indeed I" said the adventurer. " Mean you the Vert Gallant
oi Hannut, lady? He is soon found by those who seek him, and
rather often found by those who seek Mm not. Ho, Eoger!" he con-
tinued, addressing his companion in the boat, " rouse up Frank Van
Halle and Simpkin yonder, to keep watch with thee, while I lead the
lady and the boy to the rendezvous. Come now, my pretty mistress,"
he added, " take care of your steps, for it is as dark as the tomb.
Here, take an old man's arm. It was more pliant in days of yore,
but never stronger, and will serve at least to help you up the bank."

Alice was glad of assistance, and laid her hand on his arm ; but
though his occupation had been sufficiently evident before, yet she
almost started back when her fingers rested upon plates of cold iron,
Jirniinj the brassards or defensive armour for the arms, so much aia

219 MARY OF BURGUUDtf.

our minds the slaves of our corporeal sensations, that our convictions
are never vivid till we have verified them by our external senses.
She recovered herself immediately, however, and clung to him both
for support and direction, for the whole scene around was wrapped in
profound obscurity ; and though her eye was already accustomed to
the night, yet the additional gloom of the forest was so great, that she
followed the adventurer in perfect blindness, without being able to
see, one moment, where she was to set her foot the next.

After climbing a slight acclivity, which compelled them to walk
slowly, they came to more open ground, where her guide hurried his
pace, and Alice was obliged to follow rapidly upon his steps, though
not without often shrinking back for fear of striking against the trees,
which her imagination pictured as protruding across the path. The
way, though in fact short, seemed to her long, from the darkness and
uncertainty in which she moved; but at length a light began to
glisten between the branches ; and, after walking on a few minutes
longer, she perceived a glare so strong as almost to make her believe
that a part of the wood was on fire. As her conductor led her for-
ward, she every now and then caught a glimpse, through the breaks in
the wood, of figures moving about across the light towards which
they were approaching; but a moment after, the whole scene was
again shut out by a tract of withered beech trees, loaded with their
thick dry leaves, through which the path that Alice and her guide
were pursuing took a sudden turn. The blaze of the fire, however,
was sufficiently general to light them easily on their way; and in a
few minutes more they emerged at once into the little sheltered arena
whence it was diffused.

The frost, as I have before said, had for some time broken up, and
the preceding day had been warm and fine. Nevertheless, sufficient
precautions had been taken by the tenants of the forest to dispel, in
their own neighbourhood at least, whatever touch remained of winter.
In the midst of the open space which Alice now entered, they had
piled up, with very unceremonious appropriation of the duke's trees,
a fire of immense logs, sufficient to roast a hecatomb; and many a
relic of the more ancient and simple methods of dressing meat dis-
played themselves around, in various immense pieces of venison and
beef roasting on wooden spits in the open air, while a gigantic black
caldron, pendent from the immemorial triple chevron, which has sus-
pended all primeval pots from the days of Noah, fumed and bubbled
with most savoury promise. Around, in groups, lay a number of
stout soldiery, prepared to refresh their vigorous and sinewy limbs
with the contents of the pot, or the burden of the spit, as soon as those
skilled in the mystery of cooking pronounced that they were ready
for the knife. Several more, whose appetites seemed still fiercer,
etood round the fire, watching with anticipating expectation the pro-
gress of the cookery. But it is to be remarked, at the same time,
that amongst all this number of persons — amounting fully to fifty or
sixty— a great deal of decent order was kept up, and nothing "like
either rioting or confusion was observed, notwithstanding the more
than doubtful character of the persons concerned. There was no
singing, no shouting; and those who were conversing together spoke
in an under tone, as if afraid of disturbing some person engaged iu
more important business in their near neighbourhood.

MAKY OF BURGUNDY 2ii

The cause of this orderly tranquillity, perhaps, might be discovered
by running the eye on a little way beyond the fire, where stood a
Bort of rude but extensive, wooden shed or hut, raised upon a number
of upright piles driven into the ground, and thatched on the top with
boughs, leaves, and rushes, which materials also served to cover three
sides of the building. The side that remained open was turned to-
wards the fire ; and, consequently, it both commanded a view of
everything that took place in that direction, and exposed to the sight
of the other parties in the savannah all that was passing in the interior
of the hut. It was owing to this disposition, that, as Alice approached,
she at once perceived the Vert Gallant of Hannut, habited, as we
have before described him, reclining on the ground under the shed,
with a paper before him, on which was apparently traced a rude map
of some country, the topography of which he seemed studying intently.
Sitting beside him, supplied with a flat board, which served the pur-
poses of a table, and on which were seen the implements for writing,
was the sleek, round monk, of whom we have previously given some
account under the name of Father Barnabas, and who now, with a
ready pen, appeared busily tracing some despatch at the dictation of
the adventurous leader.

On the other side of the Vert Gallant stood a page, whose rich
dress of green and gold seemed but ill to correspond with the scene
in which he was found, holding a torch high in his hand, to throw
light upon the papers before his two companions ; and near him again
was a person in the habit of a courier of some distinction, whose horse,
all in flakes of foam with hard riding, stood, held by another page,
close by the entrance of the shed.

The approach of Alice and her conductor instantly drew the eyes
of a great part of the persons assembled in the savannah upon her;
and, shrinking from the gaze of the rude men amongst whom she now
found herself, the lady drew her mantle closer round her, and bent
her look upon the ground, while, at the desire of him who had led
her thither, she paused with the page, and suffered their guide to ad-
vance alone. Without taking any notice of the groups around, he
walked forward at once to the shed ; and only staying till the Vert
Gallant had concluded the sentence which hung upon his lips, he ad-
dressed a few words to him, which were inaudible where Alice stood.
Their effect upon the leader, however, was great and instantaneous.
He started at once upon his feet, and turned fully towards the spot
where the young lady stood ; but the bars of the casque, which he
seemed never to lay aside, still prevented his own countenance from
being seen.

After the glance of a single instant, he advanced towards Alice ;
and, bending respectfully over her hand which he took in his, he
bade her welcome with kind and graceful courtesy.

" I know the general meaning of your coming, lady," he said,
" though not the immediate cause ; and I will speak with you as soon
es I have despatched the messenger. In the meantime trust to this
tld man, my lieutenant, who will lead you to a place where I can
hear your commands in private."

Alice listened attentively, and looked up when he had done, with a
glance in which anxiety and apprehension for her father's fate were
strangely mingled, considering the moment and the scene, with a

o

2'2 MAEY OF BURGUNDY.

rise of the eyebrow, and a turn of the fair mouth, which altogether ap-
proached very near one of the merry smiles that had so thronged her
lips in happier days. She replied not, however, though at first she
appeared about to do so ; but following her former conductor ia
silence, was led once more into the paths of the wood. She was not
now called upon to walk far; for little more than a hundred steps
brought her in front of a low-roofed building, which, apparently had
been in former times the abode of one of the forest guards, but which
had now fallen into the occupation of the free companions.

Everything within bore an air of comfort and neatness hardly to
have been expected from its present tenants; and in the chamber to
which Alice was conducted, nothing appeared to announce that it was
not still the abode of quiet and affluent industry.

The moment she and the page had entered, the old man retired
and closed the door; and Alice remained gazing upon the embers of
the wood fire that lay sparkling on the hearth, till the sound of rapid
steps passing the window again, made her heart beat with redoubled
quickness. In a moment after the door was thrown open, and the
tall, graceful figure of the Vert Gallant once more stood before her.

" Quit the room, page," he said, as he entered, " but do not leave
the chamber-door."

The boy hesitated ; but a sign from Alice made him instantly
obey ; and the Vert Gallant advancing, took her hand and led her to
a seat.

"You are tired, lady, and evidently agitated," he said; "and I
fear much that pome event of a sad and serious nature has gained me
the honour of your presence in this wild place."

Alice looked up with the same sparkling smile which had before
played for a moment on her countenance. " You cannot deceive me!"
she said. " Hugh de Mortmar, do you think that I do not know you?"

The Vert Gallant paused an instant as if in suspense, then threw
his arms round the fair girl who stood beside him, and pressed her
gentlj' to him. " Dear Alice," he said, " how did you discover me?"

" It were vain to say how, Hugh," replied Alice ; " I may have
had suspicions long before; but, from the day of the thunderstorm in
the forest of Hannut, I have not had a doubt ; though why Hugh de
Mortmar should need to league with outlaws and adventurers, and,
as it would appear, to hide his face even from such strange com*
panions, is more difficult to divine."

" I am, indeed, willing, though not obliged, to hide my face even
from the bulk of my gallant followers," replied the young cavalier,
undoing the clasps of his casque. " Ay ! and in order to guard
against surprise or inadvertency, to wear so foul a seeming as this,
even beneath that heavy helmet;" and removing the iron cap, he
showed her a half mask representing the countenance of a negro,
which covered his own face to the beard.

"You start, Alice!" he continued, "and look somewhat aghast!
Is it at that fearful painted piece of emptiness?"

"No!" she answered, "no! But it is to think that you — you, De
Mortmar — should, for any cause, condescend to hide yourself beneath
such a semblance."

" Indeed, Alice!" said De Mortmar with a smile. "Then tell me,
beloved, and put it fairly to your own heart, what is it that a man wiJJ

MABY OF BUItGUNDT. 213

Hot do — what that he should not do — to recover those things that have
been snatched from his race by the unjust hand of power, and to free a
father from captivity ?"

"Nothing, indeed!" replied Alice, to whose bosom one part, at
least, of the question went directly home. " Kothing, indeed ! and I
will believe, with the faith of a martyr, that no other way than this
existed for you to accomplish such an object; although till this mo-
ment I knew not that you had either parent in existence."

" But your father did," replied the young cavalier ; " and when firs
I called these troops together, Alice — for you must not confound therr
with a band of lawless plunderers — when first I called them together
it seemed the only way by which I could ever hope to liberate my im-
prisoned father. I am Hugh of Gueldres ; and it has been only the
hope and the promise of your hand, joined to the prospect held out by
your noble father, of obtaining my own parent's liberation by peaceful
means, which has so long prevented me from asserting his right in
arms, though the whole force of Burgundy were prepared to check
me — I might say, indeed, to crush me," he added; "for though, with
the forces of Hannut, and all the discontented men which the late
duke arrayed against him in his own dominions, with the aid of
France and, perhaps, of Austria, my right and my good cause might
have done much, while Charles remained embroiled in foreign wars.
I could have hoped for little had he once turned his whole force
against me. But, as I have said, your father persuaded me to delay.
During the years that I have thus been induced to pause, I have been
obliged to hide, as best I might, the force of free companions I had
raised ; and no method of concealment could be more efficacious than,
that which I have adopted. As the green riders of Hannut we passed
nearly unmolested, while the Duke of Burgundy pursued his ambitious
schemes against Lorraine, and his mad ones against the Swiss ; and
though, if you recall the past events, you will find that the green
riders have punished the guilty and the bloodthirsty — have laid many
a plundering noble under contribution, and have levelled more than
one stronghold of cruelty and oppression with the ground, yet not one
act of baseness or barbarity can be traced to themselves."

"Then, why such necessity for concealing yourself from them?'
demanded Alice, carried away for a moment from other thoughts by
the personal interest she felt in her lover's conduct.

" What !" exclaimed the young cavalier, " would you hai e had me,
dear Alice, give so important a secret as that of my existence, when
the Duke of Burgundy and all his court — nay, my own father also,,
thought me dead ; would you have had me give such a secret as that;
to the keeping of more than five hundred men? Ko! they were levied
secretly by one who has been devoted and faithful to me through life
— good Matthew Gournay, who led you hither. The long accumu-
lated wealth of my more than father, the Lord of Hannut, served to
gather them together. His forests and the catacombs under the
castle gave them shelter: and, though far too strong in numbers to
fear the weak bands of the Prevot, or the force of any of the neigh-
couring nobles, it was absolutely necessary to conceal, with the most
scrupulous care, from the court of Burgundy, that so large a body of
independent troops existed, and still more that such a force was cora-
aiauded by one who had cause for deadly hatred towards the duk^

814 MART OF BURGUNDY.

now dead. Thus, by the advice, and with the aid of the good Lord of
Hannut, I mingled with the world as his nephew, under which title he
had brought me up from my youth. But as it was necessary to keep
my free companions in continual employment, and to acquire over
them that personal authority which nothing but the habit of com-
manding them could obtain, I was often obliged to assume the charac-
ter of the Vert Gallant of Hannut, and lead them to enterprises,
which, however dangerous, I took care should never be dishonourable.
The very concealment of my person, which was revealed only to those
who had previously known me, added a sort of mysterious influence
to the power which general success gave me over them ; and I believe
that, at this moment, there is no enterprise, however wild or rash, to
which they would not follow me with the most perfect confidence."

" But my father," said Alice, reverting to the still more interesting
topic of her parent's danger ; " I must speak with you of my father."

"Well, then, in regard to your father," replied the young noble;
and, proceeding eagerly in his exculpation, he explained to Alice that
Imbercourt had always lamented the Duke of Burgundy's severity to
his parent, and had striven by every means to call the sovereign to a
sense of justice, even before he acquired a personal interest in the
house of Gueldres. The real name and rank of the supposed Hugh de
Mortmar, the cavalier proceeded, had been revealed to her father when
Alice's hand had first been promised to him as the young heir of Han-
nut ; and seeing at once that Hugh's design of liberating the imprisoned
Duke of Gueldres, and recovering his duchy by force, was anything
but hopeless, Imbercourt had only become the more anxious to obviate
the necessity for such an attempt by inducing Charles the Bold to
grant as a concession that which he might otherwise be forced to
yield on compulsion. The purposes of the Duke of Burgundy, how-
ever, were not easily changed, nor was his mind to be wrought upon in
a day ; and Imbercourt Mas still occupied with the difficult task he had
undertaken, when the defeat of Nancy took place. On the other hand,
he had ever laboured zealously to induce the young heir of Gueldres to
delay; and many of those trifling circumstances which impede the
execution of the best laid schemes, had combined, from time to time,
to second his endeavours with Hugh of Gueldres. Friends and con-
federates had proved remiss or incapable ; supplies had been retarded;
changes had taken place in the disposition or circumstances of particu-
lar states ; and three times the young noble had been half persuaded,
half compelled, to put off the attempt on which he had determined.
All this Hugh of Gueldres poured forth eagerly to Alice of Imber-
court, too anxious to exculpate himself from all blame in the eyes of
her he loved, to read in her looks the more serious cares that were
busy at her heart.

" In the disturbed and dangerous state of the country," added the
f oung cavalier, " although my father has been liberated by other
means, it is my determination to keep my band together, and, watching
every turn, to choose that moment which must come, when a small
force, acting vigorously for one great purpose, may give the preponde-
rance to right and crush the wrong for ever."

"Now, then, is the moment! Hugh de Mortmar," cried Alice,
clasping her hands eagerly ; " now, then, is the moment ! — if you feel
•ny gratitude towards my father — if you feel any love for me — if you

MABY OF EUECUNDI. S15

would uphold the right — if you would crush the wrong — if you would
eave the innocent from ignominious death — lose not a day, but force
the rebel people of Ghent to free my unhappy father !"

The young cavalier, who had never suspected the actual dangei
of the Lord of Imbercourt, started with surprise ; and Alice, with the
eager eloquence of apprehension, made him rapidly acquainted with
the events which had occurred in Ghent during the morning, and which
had thus brought her to seek him.

" Ha !" cried the Vert Gallant, " does Albert Maurice — does the
president of the states sanction such proceedings ? I had heard that
when the unhappy eschevins were murdered by the populace, he
wrought signal vengeance on the perpetrators of the crime ; and, if
ever I saw one to whom I should attribute noble feelings and just and
upright sentiments, he is the man."

"He is ambitious, Hugh," replied Alice, vehemently; "wildly,
madly ambitious. I have marked him well throughout — and you may
trust a woman's eyes for such discoveries — he has dared to raise his
thoughts to Mary of Burgundy. He loves her — deeply and truly, I
believe ; but lie loves her not with the love which an inferior may feel
for a superior whom they may never hope to gain, but rather with
that rash and daring love which will make ambition but a stepping-
stone to accomplish its bold purpose — which will see the land p'unged
deeper and deeper in bloodshed, in the wild hope, that out of the ruins
of ancient institutions and the wreck of order, prosperity, and peace,
he may build up for himself a seat as high, or higher, than the ducal
chair of Burgundy. It is evident, Hugh, it is evident that he has the
power as well as the daring to do much ; and one of his first steps will
be upon my father's head ; for had that father's will and counsel been
followed, our fair and gentle princess would now have been the bride of
the Dauphin of France, and every hour that he lives will be an hour of
suspense and anxiety to that ambitious burgher."

A slight smile of contempt, springing from the prejudices of the day,
curled the lip of Hugh of Gueldres, as Alice first spoke of the love of
the young citizen for the Princess of Burgundy; but it vanished
speedily as she went on : and he shook his head with an air of thought,
fal sternness as he replied, " He is one to be feared and to be opposed
far more than to be contemned. Alice, my beloved," he added, taking
both her hands in his, " I must think what may be best done to save
■ your father ; and of this be assured, that I will lose not one moment
in the attempt ; but will peril life and fortune, and every future hope,
to deliver him instantly."

"And yet," said Alice, while a deep blush spread over her whole
face, "for my sake be not over rash of your own person. Save my
father, I beseech, I entreat! — but, oh! remember that you, too — that
you—"

Her feelings overpowered her, and she finished the sentence by
tears. Hugh of Gueldres drew her gently to him, and consoled her
as far as the circumstances permitted. But on such occasions there
is little to be said but commonplaces ; and all he could assure her was,
that while he made every effort to save her father, her love would
make him as careful of himself as the nature of the task would allow.

In that day, however, every sport, pastime, and occupation of man'a
life, were of so rude and dangerous a nature, that perils lost half theiS

216 MART OF BUUGUNDr.

tearfulness from familiarity ; and, though Alice of Imbercourt could
not but feel pained and apprehensive for her lover, yet her feelings
of terror were much sooner tranquillized than those of a person in the
present day could have been under similar circumstances.

In the meanwhile, the emergency of the case required that Hugh of
Gueldres should instantly fix upon some plan for the deliverance of
the Lord of Imbercourt, and proceed to put it in execution without
loss of time; and it was also necessary that Alice, whose return to
Ghent would have been both fruitless and dangerous, should seek
some safe asylum till her father's fate was decided. It was accord-
ingly determined that she should instantly proceed to the castle of
Hannut; and means for rendering her journey both safe and easy
were arranged at once by her lover.

While the litter for conveying her thither was in preparation, and
the soldiers destined to escort her were saddling their horses, Hugh of
Gueldres stole a few brief minutes from more painful thoughts, for the
enjoyment of her society, and the interchange of happy promises and
hopes — nor were those brief moments less sweet to Alice and her
lover, because they were so few, nor because they were mingled with
many an apprehension, nor because many an anxious topic intruded
on the conversation. It is the light and shade, the close opposition of
the dark and the sparkling, that gives zest even to joy. Hugh de
Mortmar felt all the sweetness of their brief interview to the full for
the time ; but, the moment after he had placed Alice in the vehicle,
given strict directions to the band which accompanied her, and seen the
cavalcade wind away into the dark paths of the wood, he turned to
less pleasing thoughts, summoned some of those from his troops in
whom he felt the greatest confidence, and remained with them for a
short time in close deliberation, concerning the measures to be taken
for the deliverance of the Lord of Imbercourt.

A plan was soon determined ; and an hour before daylight one of
the band was despatched to Ghent, habited as a peasant, and charged
to gain every information in regard to the proceedings of the council,
but to hasten back with all speed, as soon as he had obtained sufficient
knowledge of what was passing in the city. In the meanwhile, all
was held in readiness to act, immediately upon the receipt of the
tidings which he was to bring; and messengers were despatched in
every direction, to prepare the bodies of free companions, scattered
through the different woods in the neighbourhood of Ghent, for instant
movement upon the city.

CHAPTER XXVHI.

"While such events had been passing without the gates of Ghent, the
estates of Flanders and Brabant — as the members somewhat gran-
diloquently styled the anomalous assemblage which had been collected
in that city — had prolonged their sittings till night had shaken hands
with morning. The Lords of Hugonet and Imbercourt had, as we
flave seen, been arrested by their commands ; but this was not all, and
Every individual of any weight, who was clearly connected with what
)ras called the French party at the court, had likewise been committed
\> prison. It may be necessary, however, to state how such a bold

MARY OF BUKGUNDT. 2)7

and sweeping measure — a measure so full of difficulties, and so likely
to encounter strenuous opposition — had been carried into effect.

No favour was shown to any one; and, as soon as the assembly
met, Albert Maurice, so averse, in general, to deeds of violence, pro-
posed in quick succession, and with an eager light in his eye, which
proved how deeply his personal feelings were implicated, the names
of the victims who were to be exposed to the fiery ordeal of a
public trial, under such an excited and furious state of the popular
mind. With bold and sweeping positions, supported by extraordinary
eloquence, he laid it down, in his opening address, as a first grand
principle, that those who sought to unite Flanders with France were
declared enemies to their native country; and he went on to assume,
that even those who could show that no mercenary motive influenced
them, were worthy, at least, of banishment, while those who could be
proved to have been bought by France, merited nothing less than
death. All this was readily admitted by his hearers : but the high
rank and station of the first men that he then proceeded to proscribe,
their fair reputation, and a long train of brilliant services to the state,
caused no light feelings of surprise and apprehension to agitate the
various members of the states, as they heard them named. But there
was a power and an authority in the tone of the young president,
which overawed or carried away the greater part of his hearers ; and
the calm sneer, or cold philosophic reasoning of Ganay, who supported
him, drove or induced many of the rest to yield.

Still it required but the strenuous opposition of some one individual,
to rouse and lead a large party in the states against the bold and
dangerous measures proposed; and, to the surprise of all, that indivi-
dual was worthy Martin Fruse. As soon as Ganay had concluded, he
rose, and, after some agitated embarrassment — occasioned both by
the importance of the subject on which he was about to speak, and
his dislike to oppose his nephew — found words to begin; but, once
having done so, he poured forth, with rapid utterance, one of those
torrents of rude eloquence which generosity of heart and rectitude of
feeling will sometimes elicit from the roughest and most untutored
mind.

" No, no, Albert! No, no, my dear boy!" he exclaimed. "No, no;
it is very wrong — very wrong indeed ! For God's sake, my friends
and fellow citizens, pause! let us be wise and firm, but moderate and
just. We have done great things — indeed, we have. We have
recovered our freedom ; we have regained those ancient laws and
usages which were our blessing in the olden time, and which may
bless us still, if we use them discreetly. But, fellow citizens, remember,
oh, remember! there is a point where our own privileges end, and where
those of other classes and other men begin. Let us not take one stride
beyond the barriers of our own rights ; for surely, if we do, we shall,
sooner or later, be driven back with disgrace. The man who, with
power to right himself, suffers another to rob him of his property, is
little better than a fool; but he who, because he has once been robbed,
grasps at the possessions of another, is none the less a robber himself.
The nobles have their own privileges and their own laws ; and right it
is that they should have them; for perhaps we are less fitted, from
our habits and situation, to judge them, than they are to judge us.
But, setting that point aside, we claim our own laws and our owa

218 MABY OF BUKGUNDY.

judges, and we have obtained them : the nobles, too, claim theirs, and
]et them have them too. If they have wronged each other, let then
right themselves; and if they have wronged the state, whereby we
may suffer too, let us carry up our impeachment of their conduct to
the footstool of the princess, and demand that they be judged by their
peers, according to law. But on no account let us either arrest them
without lawful authority; and still less let us presume — a body of men
superior to them in numbers, and in some sort, I will say, prejudiced
against them, because we hold a lower rank than they do — and still
less, I say, let us presume to judge them, when we cannot, from
our very station, judge them impartially. A man can very well judga
others, may be, when he despises them ; but no men can judge others
whom they envy. I know nothing of these two lords; and all I have
heard of them makes me believe that they were good and faithful
servants of their prince, so long as he was living; but if you have good
reason to think that they have since betrayed their country to Trance,
accuse them before the princess and her council, and let them be
judged by their equals."

"What! and give them time to escape the pursuit of justice?"
demanded Albert Maurice, sternly; but immediately assuming a
softer 'Txie, he added, "Had any other man spoken the words we
have just heard, I should have instantly called upon the states of
Flanders not to entertain for a moment ideas which would go to
circumscribe all their powers. I would have endeavoured to show
that we have a right, as the representatives of the whole of Flanders
ami Brabant, to defend our existence as a nation, and our general
interests as a free people, by arresting any one whom we find labouring
to sell us at the highest price to a foreign power; and, by making the
must terrible example of such traitors, to deter others from similar
treason — without adducing any weaker reasons. But to you, my
uncle — my best and kindest friend — I am bound by love and grati-
tude; and to you also — as the oldest and most revered member of
the council— the states are bound by reverence and esteem, to yield
every motive which can satisfy your mind. I, therefore, as one of
the provincial council of the princess, may now inform you, that one
half of that council "

"The Duke of Gueldres has signed the order," whispered Ganay,
laying a parchment before the president, who instantly proceeded —
"that even a majority of the council, have consented to the arrest of
these two nobles, the Lord of Imbercourt and the Chancellor Hugo-
net ; and surely, did there exist no other right in this assembly to try
them for their manifold and recent offences, the warrant of three such
men of their own order as the Duke of Cleves, the Duke of Gueldres,*
and the Bishop of Liege, would be ample authority for such a pro
ceeding."

As he spoke, he spread out the parchment on the table before the

• The Dukes of Cleves and Gueldres were actuated, In the present instance, by
Tery evident motives : the one wishing to obtain the hand of the princess (which
Imbercourt and Hugonet strove to give to France) for his nearest relation, and the
other for himself. The motive of the Bishop of Liege is supposed by historians to
have been revenge for acts of justice rendered by Imbercourt under the reign at
Charles the Bold.

MARY OF BUSCUNDV. S19

states ; and, slowly pronouncing the names of the three princes who,
from the base motives of personal ambition or revenge, had been in-
duced to consent to such a degradation of their class, he pointed with
his finger in succession to their signatures attached to the order for
arresting the unfortunate nobles. Martin Fruse was silent ; but the
voice of every other person present was raised for the instant execu-
tion of a warrant so signed, though many, by leaving the order with-
out any further authority, would have gladly shifted the responsi-
bility of the act upon those princes who had justified it, in order to
escape themselves from a task, for which, with all the will in the
world, they wanted the necessary courage.

Albert Maurice, however, and several others, made of sterner stuff
than the generality of the burghers by whom they were surrounded,
had more extended views and more daring purposes, and were deter-
mined not to trust the execution of the vengeance they proposed to
wreck on the two counsellors, to such doubtful friends as the Dukes
of Cleves and Gueldres, and the Bishop of Liege. The first, indeed,
had shown himself the bitter foe of Imbercourt from the moment he
had discovered that the statesman had determined to save the coun-
try from foreign invasion, if possible, by uniting Mary of Burgundy
to the heir of the French crown. To the Bishop of Liege, Imber-
court had long been a personal enemy ; and the Duke of Gueldres
had motives of his own, or rather motives suggested by Ganay, for
seeking to alienate the unhappy minister from the councils of the
princess. Each, however, of these great lords, Albert Maurice well
knew, were willing to compound for the exile of the minister, and to
spare his life ; but the young president himself judged rightly, when
he thought that Imbercourt, in power or in banishment, would never
cease his efforts to execute the design he had formed, till he were
dead, or the scheme accomplished ; and Albert Maurice resolved that
he should die. He tried hard to convince his own heart that his in-
tentions were purely patriotic ; but his own heart remained unsatis-
fied. Yet, having once yielded to the promptings of the worse spirit,
the burning doubt in his own bosom, in regard to the purity of his
motives, only urged him on the course he had chosen with more blind
and furious impetuosity, in order to escape from the torturing self-
examination to which conscience prompted him continually. He saw
around him difficulties and dangers on every side, obstacles alike op-
posed to his ambition, to his love, and to his aspirations after liberty.
He believed himself to be in the situation of a mariner on a narrow
bank, over which the ocean threatened every instant to break, and
overwhelm both himself and the vessel of the state ; and he resolved
at once to push off into the midst of the stormy waves, in despite of
the fears of his companions, believing that his own powers could steer
the ship safely, and that their feebleness must yield him the com-
mand, till he had piloted her into the port for which he had already
determined to sail.

The timidity of some, the subtlety of others, the wilfulness, the
self-conceit of all, he saw could only be bent to his purposes by plung-
ing them in an ocean of difficulties, from which he alone could extri-
cate them ; and understanding well the characters of those by whom
he was surrounded, and prepared to make their talents, their influ-
ence, their wealth, their vices, their very weakness subservient to hil

220 MAKi" OF BUBCUNDT.

one great purpose, he resolved to involve them all in schemes of
which he alone knew the extent.

At once, therefore, he rejected the idea that the warrant, signed by
the three princes he had named, was sufficient ; and though he al-
lowed their names to stand first, he urged upon those who heard him,
that the states must also join in the same act, or forfeit thenceforward
all pretence to real power. His arguments and his authority easily
brought over a large majority of the hearers ; and the warrants were
sent forth bearing the names of the whole assembly. A number of
other persons, less obnoxious, were then, as I have before said, added
to the list of those to be secured ; and the meeting of the states did
not break up till the fearful work of proscription had been dreadfully
extended.

The assembly then rose ; and member by member, bowing low to
the president, who had the day before taken possession of a suite of
apartments in the Stadthuys, and now made it his dwelling, left the
town-hall, and departed. Ganay alone remained, and he did so on a
sign to that effect from Albert Maurice ; who, when all the rest were
gone, and the doors closed, leaned his folded arms upon the table, and
buried his brows upon them, as if utterly exhausted with all the
fatigues of the day, and the struggle of many a potent passion in the
arena of his own bosom. The dull flames of the long-burnt lamps but
dimly illumined the wide vacant hall and its dark wainscot ; but the
great cresset hung just above the head of Albert Maurice ; and as the
light fell upon the bright curls of dark hair dropping over his arms,
and upon the magnificent head and form which those curls adorned,
it seemed shining upon some fallen spirit in the first lassitude of its
despair. Nor did the withered form of Ganay, with his shrewd keen
eyes fixed upon the young citizen, and his cheek shrunk and pale with
the long workings of passions, concealed by subtlety, but not the less
potent on that account, offer a bad image of some dark tempter, enjoy-
ing his triumph over the fall of a better being, then writhing before
his eyes under the very fruition of its first evil hopes.

It was Ganay who began the discourse, and the tone of his voice at
once roused Albert Maurice from his momentary absence of mind.
" They have all plunged in now, indeed !" said the druggist. " I
thought not they would run before our will so easily."

" They have plunged in, indeed," replied Albert Maurice, " and so
have we! But that matters not. We will lead them safely through.
But now tell me — How was the Duke of Gueldres won to our wishes ?
He owes his freedom as much to Imbercourt as to any one. Is lie
then so base a slave as he has been pictured? Is the soil of his
heart really so fertile in weeds, that good service produces nothing
thence but ingratitude ?"

" Nay, nay, my young friend," answered the druggist, while a bit-
ter sneer lurked round his lip, at the very craidour he assumed ;
"you are beginning to think sadly ill of mankind. They are not so
bad a race as you believe. Like all great patriots, you affect to de-
spise the very world you would shed your blood to serve. No, no,
the Duke of Gueldres, good honest man, would be as grateful as his
neighbours, if no more powerful motive came in the way of gratitude.
You forget, Albert Maurice, that we are teaching him to believe that
his pretensions to the heiress of Burgundy are full as good as tho^

MAKV OFBUEGUNDr. 221

of the sottish heir of Cleves ; so that, whoever seeks to give her hand
to a stranger, is an enemy to Adolphus of Gueldres, who counts boldly
»n being her husband."

The cheek of Albert Maurice flushed, and then grew pale ; for
*ften in the dull and filthy trade of worldly policy, men must work
with tools they are ashamed to touch, and employ means abhorrent to
their better nature. Thus, though obliged to balance one mean soul
against another, as suitors for her he himself loved, it stung the young
aspirant to the very heart to hear their pretensions calmly named by
any other human being ; and giving way to the first burst of indigna-
tion, he exclaimed, " Out on him, vile swine ! But beware, Sir Druggist,
beware how you raise his mad dreams too high ! and still more be-
ware," he continued, as a sudden suspicion seemed to cross his mind,
awakened, as had been frequently the case before, by the sneering
tone in which the druggist sometimes spoke ; " and still more, be-
ware how you dare to play into his hands. Mark me, sir," and grasp-
ing Ganay by the arm, he bent his dark brow upon him ; "mark me ! I
know you well, and you know me, but not so well ! You think you
use me as a tool, because, to a certain point, you have succeeded,
while following my steps, and have obtained, and are obtaining the
vengeance for which you thirst. But learn and know that you have
succeeded so far only because the interests of the state and your own
desires have been bound up together, It is, that those whom you
seek to destroy have given you the means of destroying them, by ren-
dering it necessary that I should strike them ; not, as perhaps you
dream, that you have bent me to your purpose. You see I know
you, and some of your most secret thoughts. But hear me further
ere you reply. Learn, too, that the transactions of thirty years ago,
are not so deeply buried beneath the dust of time as you may think ;
and that though you and Adolphus of Gueldres may meet as strangers
now-a-day, I have dreamt that there was a time when you knew more
of each other. So now, you see, I know you, and some of your most,
secret deeds ; and once more, I say, beware !"

It was the second time that Albert Maurice had referred boldly tc>
events in the past, which Ganay had supposed forgotten; and the
ashy cheek of the druggist grew, if anything, a shade paler than be-
fore, while, for a moment, he gazed upon the face of Albert Maurice
with a glance of amazement, most unwonted to his guarded features.
It passed off, however, in an instant, and a flash of something like
anger succeeded in its room. But that, too, passed away, and he re-
plied calmly, but somewhat bitterly, " I will beware. But you, too,
Albert Maurice, beware also. There are some things that it is not
well to discuss ; but if you can trace — as, for aught I know or care,
perhaps you can — my whole course of being for more than thirty
years, you well know that I am one whose vengeance is somewhat
deadly; and that however strong you may feel yourself, it were better
to incur the hatred of a whole host of monarchs, than that of so hum-
ble a thing as I am. Curl not your proud lip, Sir President, but listen
to me, and let us both act wisely. I love you, and have loved you
from your childhood ; and, in the great changes that are taking place
around us, we have advanced together — I, indeed, a step behind you;
or, in other words, you have gone on in search of high things andi
mighty destinies, while I have had my objects, no less dear aasi

222 MAEY OF BURGUNDY.

precious to my heart, though perhaps less pompously named in the
world's vocabulary. Let us not, now that we have done so much, and
stood so long side by side, turn face to face as foes. Doubtless you
fear not me: but let me tell you, Albert Maurice, that I am as fearless
as yourself — nay, something more so — for there are many mere words
cunningly devised, and artfully preached upon, by monks, and priests,
and knaves, and tyrants, which you fear, and I do not. But let us
set all these things aside ; it is wisest and best for us both to labour
on together, without suspicions of each other. If, as you say, you
icnow the secrets of the past, you well know that I have no mighty
cause to love Adolphus of Gueldres. In what I have done to win him
popularity, and to make him raise his eyes to the hand of the sweet
and beautiful Princess of Burgundy, I have but followed your own
directions, and no more ; and you must feel and know that his power
over the people, and his hope of that bright lady are, when compared
with yours, but as a feather weighed against a golden crown."

The firmest heart that ever beat within man's bosom is, after all,
feut a strange weak thing ; and — though feelings very little short of
contempt and hatred were felt by the young citizen for his insidious
companion — though he knew that he was false and subtle, and be-
lieved that even truth in his mouth was virtually a lie, from being
intended to deceive, yet, strange to say, the goodly terms that he
bestowed upon Mary of Burgundy, and the flattering picture he drew
of his hearer's probable success, soothed, pleased, aud softened Albert
Maurice, and wiped away, for the moment, many of the individual
suspicions he had been inclined to entertain before.

It must not be supposed, however, that those suspicions, thus par-
tially obliterated, did not soon return. They were like the scratches
■on an agate, which a wet sponge will apparently wipe away for ever,
but which come back the moment that the stone is dry again, and
cloud it altogether. He knew Ganay too well, he saw too deeply
into the secrets of his subtle heart, to be ever long without doubt of
his purposes, though artful words and exciting hopes, administered
skilfully to his passions, would efface it for a time. If this weakness,
and it certainly was a great one, did not influence his conduct, it was,
perhaps, as much as could be expected from man.

" I mean not, Ganay," he said, "either to taunt you or to pain you ;
but as our objects are different, as you admit yourself, I do you no
wrong, even on your own principles, in supposing that as soon as those
objects are no longer to be gained by aiding and supporting me, you will
turn to some one whose plans may better coincide with your own.
My purpose, then, in showing you how thoroughly I know you is, that
you may have the means of seeing that it would be dangerous to
abandon my interest for that of any other person ; and that you may
balance in your own mind the advantages and difficulties on either
side. But, as you say, to drop this subject, and never to resume it
again, unless the day should come when separate interests and dif-
ferent feelings may oppose us hostilely to each other, tell me, candidly
and fairly, do you think that, if we eneouragb the popularity of him
of Gueldres, in opposition to this proud Duke of Cleves, we may safely
count upon his ultimate failure; for did I believe that there were a
possibility of his success, I would slay him myself ere such a profana-
tion should take place :" and as he spoke he fixed his eyes upon tht

MARY OF BUKGUNDr. 223

face of the druggist, in order to make the expression^of the other's
countenance a running commentary upon the words he was about to
reply.

"I think," replied the druggist, firmly, and emphatically, "that
Adolphus of Gueldres — stigmatized by the pure immaculate world we
live in, as the blood-stained, the faithless, the perjured, the violator
of all duties and of all rights — has as much chance of obtaining
heaven, as of winning Mary of Burgundy. I tell you, Albert Mau-
rice, that she would sooner die — ay, die a thousand times, were it
possible, than wed the man she has been taught to hate from her in-
fancy."

" I believe she would," murmured the young citizen, calling to
mind the demeanour of the princess, when giving the order for the
liberation of the Duke of Gueldres; "I believe she would, indeed."

"Besides," continued the druggist, "besides, she loves another. Ay,
Albert Maurice, start not, she loves another ! What, man," he con-
tinued, seeing his companion change colour, " are you so blind ? I
nad fancied that all your hopes, and one half your daring, had birth
in that proud consciousness."

Never dreaming that his companion would announce so boldly what
was still but one of the most indistinct visions of hope, even within
his own bosom — a vision, indeed, which was the prime motive of all
thoughts and actions, but which he had never dared to scrutinize
carefully — Albert Maurice, with all the irritable jealousy of love, had
instantly concluded that Ganay, in the first part of what he said, had
alluded to some other object of the princess's affection, and his cheek
for a moment turned pale. Otherwise he might have paused to con-
sider whether the somewhat over-enthusiastic tone was not assumed
to blind and mislead him ; but the latter part of the other's speech set
the blood rushing back into his face with renewed force ; and his own
passions proved traitors, and lulled to sleep the sentinels of the mind.

" Mark my words," continued Ganay ; " mark my words, and see
whether, by the grey dawn of to-morrow, you are not sent for to the
palace. But remember, Albert Maurice, that though patriotism may
lead a man to the summit of ambition ; and though love, as well as
glory and authority, may become the fitting reward for services ren-
dered to his country, yet, in the path thither, he must never sacrifice
his duty for any of those temptations, or he will surely lose all and
gain nothing."

A slight smile passed over the features of Albert Maurice — whose
passions, in this instance, did not interfere to blind his native acute-
ness — when he saw what use his artful companion could make of the
words duty and patriotism, while it served his purpose, though, at
other times, he might virtually deny the existence of such entities.
" How mean you?" he said. "Your position, good friend, is general s
but you have some more particular object in it."

" I mean," replied Ganay, " that should Mary of Burgundy use all
those sweet words, which love itself teaches women to employ in
moving the heart of man, in order to shake your duty to your coun-
try, and make you work out the safety of two convicted traitors, you,
Albert Maurice, must have firmness enough to say, "no," even to her
you love, remembering, that if you let them escape, even into banish-
nieut — you may look upon the marriage of Mary of Lurgundy with

224 MABY Or BUKGUNDT.

the Dauphin of France as an event not less sure than that you your-
self exist. Look, too, a little farther, and think of the consequences.
Even supposing you could brook your personal disappointment, and
calmly see her you love in the arms of the weak hoy of France, -what
would befall your country ? Already one half of the nobles of Bur-
gundy and Flanders have gone over to the French ! Already half our
towns are in possession of Louis, that most Christian knave ; and at
the very first breathing of the news, that a treaty of marriage wai
signed between the heirs of France and Burgundy, the whole land
would rush forward to pass beneath the yoke, while the blood of those
who sought to save their country, would be poured out in the streets
of Ghent, to expiate the crime of patriotism."

" Fear not," replied Albert Maurice ; " proved as it is, beyond all
doubt, that these two men have dared to negotiate the sale of their
native land to him who has been its great enemy, there is no power on
earth that could induce me to interpose and save them from the out-
stretched arm of justice. They shall be fairly heard, and fairly tried ;
and if it be shown, which it cannot be, that they are guiltless, why
let them go, in God's name, as free as the blast of the ocean : but, if
they be condemned, they die, Ganay."

" So be it," said the druggist ; " in this instance, at least, justice to
your country is your only chance of personal success ; and now, good
night, and every fair dream attend you."

Thus ended their long conference ; and Ganay, descending from the
iall, woke his two sleepy attendants, who were nodding over an ex-
piring fire in the vestibule below. Each instantly snatched up his
sword and target, to conduct his master home, for the streets of
Ghent were not quite so safe, since the death of Charles the Bold, as
they had been under his stricter reign. A boy with a lantern pre-
ceded the druggist on his way homeward ; and as he walked on across
the Lys towards the church of St. Michael, the subtle plotter bent his
eyes upon the ground, and seemed counting the stones, as the che-
quering light of the lantern passed over them. But his thoughts
were not so void of matter; and he muttered words which showed
how deeply some parts of his late conversation — those which had
seemed to affect him but little at the time — had in reality sunk into
his heart. " He is quieted for the present," he said, " and he must
do out his work, but he must die — I fear me he must die; and yet my
heart fails me to think it. Why and how did he learn so much?
.■md why was he mad enough to breathe it when he had learned it?
' But I must think more ere I determine. Those papers ! he added —
tii'ise papers— if I could but get at those papers! Whatever hearsay
knowledge he may iiave gained, he could make out nothing without
those papers."

While thus — muttering to himself broken sentences of the dark
purposes which dwelt within his own bosom — the druggist pursued
his way homeward, Albert Maurice retired to his bed-chamber in the
town-house, and summoned his attendants to aid in undressing him.
No man really more despised the pomp and circumstance of state;
but since he had taken upon himself the government of Flanders, for
the power he had assumed was little less, he had in some degree
affected a style of regal splendour, and attendants of all kinds waited
his commands. The necessity of captivating the vulgar mind Xty

MAnr or bukgundt. 225

show, and of impressing on the multitude respect for the office that
he held, was the excuse of the young citizen to himself and others ;
but there was something more in it all than that — a sort of flattering
stimulus to hope and expectation was to be drawn from the magnifi-
cence with which he surrounded himself ; and he seemed to feel, that
the thought of winning Mary of Burgundy was something more than
a dream, when he found himself in some sort acting the monarch in
her dominions. He felt, too — and there might be a charm in that
also — that he acted the monarch well ; and that the robes he had
assumed became him, while the native dignity of his whole demea-
nour, and the unaffected ease with which he moved amidst the splen-
dour he displayed, dazzled the eyes of those who surrounded him, so
that he met nothing but deference and respect from all.

He slept that night as calmly in the couch of state as if he had
been born amongst the halls of kings ; and he was still in the arms of
slumber, when a page woke him, announcing as Ganay had predicted,
that the princess required his presence at the palace with all speed.
He instantly rose, and dressing himself in such guise as might be-
come him well without incurring a charge of ostentatious presump-
tion, he proceeded to obey the summons he had received ; and was
led at once to the presence of Mary of Burgundy.

The princess, as usual, was not absolutely alone; for one of her
female attendants — the same who had accompanied her during the
thunderstorm in the forest of Hannut — now remained at the farther
extremity of the room, but at such a distance as to place her out of
earshot. It was, indeed, as well that it should be so ; for Mary was
prepared to plead to her own subject for the life of her faithful ser-
vants— a humiliation to which the fewer were the witnesses ad-
mitted, the better. The feeling of the degradation to which she
submitted, was not without a painful effect upon Mary's heart, how-
ever gentle and yielding that heart might be; and the struggle
between anxiety to save the ancient friends of her father and herself,
and the fear of descending from her state too far, wrote itself in
varying characters upon her countenance, which weeks of painful
thoughts and fears had accustomed too well to the expression of
agitated apprehension.

It was still, however, as beautiful a picture of a bright and gentle
soul as ever mortal eye rested on ; and as Albert Maurice gazed
upon it, half shrouded as it was by the long black mourning veil which
the princess wore in memory of her father's death, he could not
but feel that there was a power in loveliness like that, to shake
the sternest resolves of his heart, and turn him all to weakness. The
tgitation of his own feelings, too ; the hopes that would mount, the
wishes that could not be repressed, rendered him anxiously alive to
every varying expression of Mary's face ; and without the vanity of
believing that all he saw spoke encouragement to himself, he could
Hot but dream that the colour came and went more rapidly in her
cheek, that her eye more often sought the ground while speaking to
him, than in the most earnest consultation with her other counsellors.
Perhaps, indeed, it was so ; but from far other causes than his hopes
would have led him to believe. Seldom called to converse with him
but in moments of great emergency, Mary was generally more moved
at such times than on other occasions, and when agituttd, the eio-

£26 MARY OF BUKGUNDT.

quent Hood would ever come and go in her cheek, with every varying
emotion of heart.

In him, too, she met one of a class with which she was unaccustomed
to hold any near commune; and, at the same time, there was a power,
and a freshness, and a graceful enthusiasm in all the young burgher's
demeanour, which never can be without effect upon so fine a mind as
that of the princess. Perhaps, too, though had she ever dreamed
that such a thing as love for her could enter into his imagination,
she would have been as oold as ice itself — perhaps, too, she might
feel that there was something of admiration in the young burgher's
eyes, which she would not encourage, but at which she could not feel
offended, and which she might have done something to check, had she
not felt afraid of wounding and alienating one whom it was her best
interest to attach. Nevertheless, it might be the very desire of doing
so, and the fear of giving pain, that agitated her still more, and ren-
dered her manner more changeful and remarkable.

Such were their mutual feelings, varying through a thousand fine
shades, which would require a far more skilful hand than that which
now writes to portray, when they met on that eventful morning: the
sovereign to solicit aud the subject to deny.

A few words explained to Albert Maurice the cause of the call he
had received to Mary's presence; and the occasion having once been
explained, she went on, with gentle but zealous eloquence, with a
flushed cheek and a glistening eye, to beseech him, by every motive
that she thought likely to move his heart, to save the lives of her
faithful servants.

"Indeed, dear lady," he replied, "you attribute to me more power
than I possess; for much I fear, that, even were I most anxious to
screen ^o men, accused of selling their native land to a foreign
prince, from a judicial trial and judgment, I should be totally unable
to bring such a thing to pass. AVillingly, most willingly, would I lay
down my own life for your service, madam, and be proud to die in
such a cause ; but to pervert the course of justice would be a far
more bitter task to Albert Maurice than to die himself."

"But remember, sir! oh, remember!" replied Mary, "that we are
told to show mercy, as we hope for mercy; and still further remem-
ber, that, in their dealings with France, the Lords of Imbercourt and
Hugonet were authorized by my own hand; and if there were a crime
therein committed, I am the criminal alone. The act was mine, not
theirs, as under my commands they went."

" Your Grace is too generous," replied the young burgher, "to take
upon yourself so great a responsibility, when, in truth, it is none of
yours. How reluctant you were to treat with France, no one knows
better than I do; and what unjust means must have been used to in-
duce you, I can full well divine.**

" Nay, nay, indeed !" she said ; "it was my voluntary act, done upon
due consideration; and no one is to blame, save myself."

" If, lady," rejoined Albert Maurice, speaking in a low but solemn
tone, " if you, indeed, do wish for this French alliance, if you desire
to unite yourself with your father's pertinacious enemies, if, as your
own voluntary act, you would give your hand to the puny boy, whose
numbered days will never see him sovereign of France, and "who can
alone serve to furnish a new claim to Louis XI. for annexing your

S1AT, V OF BUHGtjNDT. 227

territories to his own — if, I say, such be your own sincere desire, I
will, most assuredly, announce it to the states general."

" If I say that it is so, will it save the lives of my two faithful ser-
vants?" demanded Mary, anxiously, while her heart beat painfully
with the struggle between the desire of rescuing her counsellors, and
her shrinking abhorrence of the marriage proposed to her. " Will
it — tell me — will it save them?"

"I cannot promise that it will," replied Albert Maurice. "The
states must decide, whether those who counselled such an act are not
still most guilty, though your Grace was prevailed upon to sanction
it. Nor, lady, must you think that such a sacrifice on your part
would achieve even the pacification of France and Burgundy. Be
assured, that there is not an unbought man in all Flanders who would
not shed the last drop of his blood ere he would consent to the union
of the two countries. Nor do I believe that Louis of France himself
would accede. He claims the whole of your lands, madam, upon
other titles. Burgundy he calls his own by right of male descent;
the districts of the Somme he declares to have been unjustly wrung
from the crown of France; and the counties of Flanders and Artois,
he says, are his of right, though he has not yet deigned to yield a
specification of his claim. Doubtless he has striven to buy your ser-
vants and your counsellors; and many of them has he purchased, not
to promote your union with his son, but to betray your lands and
cities into his power."

" But these faithful friends," said Mary, " these noble gentlemen
whom you now hold in captivity, are all unsoiled by such a reproach."

"Your pardon, madam," replied Albert Maurice, gravely; "such
is one of the chief crimes with which they are charged. Good evi-
dence, too, it is said, can be produced against them; and though I
have not myself examined the proofs, yet I fear they will be found
but too strong."

Mary stood aghast, not that she believed the accusation for a mo-
ment, but that any one should find means of advancing even such a
pretext against those whose honour seemed in her eyes too bright for
such a stain to rest upon them for a moment. "Oh, save them!" she
exclaimed, at length, with passionate eagerness. "Save them, sir,
if you love honour, if you love justice! Look there," she continued
advancing to the high window of the apartment, and pointing with
her hand to the scene spread out below; "Look there!"

Albert Maurice gazed out, in some surprise. It was, indeed, as
fair a sight as ever he had looked upon. The situation of the case-
ment at which he stood, in a high tower, long since demolished, com-
manded an extensive view over the whole country round. The sun
had not risen above an hour. The world was in all the freshness of
early spring. The mists and dews of night, flying from before the
first bright rays of day, had gathered together in thin white clouds,
and were skimming rapidly towards the horizon, leaving the sky
every moment more blue and clear. Ghent lay yet half asleep be-
neath the palace, with its rivers and its canals constantly gleaming
in, here and there, amongst the grey, sober-coloured houses, while
innumerable monasteries, with their green gardens, and churches,
with their tall spires, broke the monotony both of colour and of form,
and pleasantly diversified the scene. As the eye wandered on over the

P

228 MARY OF BURGUNDY.

•walls, past the suburbs, through a maze of green fields and young
plantations, a fair, undulating country met its view, interspersed
■with deep, brown woods, from which every now and then, rose a vil-
lage spire, or a feudal tower, while the windings of the Scheldt and
the Lys, with every now and then an accidental turn of the Lieve,
were seen glistening like streams of silver through the distant pros-
pect, Over all the ascending sun was pouring a flood of the soft light
of spring, while the clouds, as they flitted across the sky, occasionally
cut off his beams from different parts of the view, but gave a more
sparkling splendour, by contrast, to the rest.

"Look there!" said Mary of Burgundy, "look there! Is not that
a fair scene ?" she added, after a moment's pause. " Is not that a
beautiful land ? Is it not a proud and pleasant thing to be lord of
cities like this, and countries like that before you? Yet let me tell
you, sir, I would sacrifice them all. I would resign power and station,
the broad lands my father left me, the princely name I own; ay, and
never drop a tear to know them lost for ever, so that I could save the
lives of those two noble gentlemen now in such peril by false sus-
picions. Oh, sir, I beseech, I entreat ; and, did it beseem either of
us, I would cast myself at your feet, to implore that you would save
them. You can — I know you can ; for well am I aware of all the
power which, not unjustly, your high qualities have obtained amongst
your fellow citizens. Oh, use it, sir, for the noblest, for the best of
purposes I use it to save them at my entreaty, and for my sake."

As she spoke, agitation, eagerness, and grief overcame every other
consideration, and the tears streamed rapidly over her fair cheeks,
while, with clasped hands, and raised-up eyes, she sought to move
her hearer. Nor was he unmoved. On the contrary, he was shakea
to the very heart. That stern determination which he thought vir-
tue, the ambition which rose up beside patriotism, and was begin-
ning to overtop the nobler shoot — all were yielding to the more power-
ful force of love ; or, if they struggled, struggled but feebly against
that which they could not withstand. His temples throbbed, his
cheek turned pale, his lip quivered, and words were rising to utter-
ance which might, perhaps, have changed the fate of nations, when
quick steps and loud voices in the ante-chamber attracted the atten-
tion both of himself and the princess.

" Stand back, sir !" exclaimed the coarse tones of the Duke of
Gueldres. " By the Lord ! if the princess is in council with any one,
as you say, the more reason that I should be present at it. Am not I
one of her counsellors, both by birth and blood ?"

By this time he had thrown open the door ; and, striding boldly into
the chamber, he advanced with a " Good morrow, fair cousin : if you
be in want of counsellors, here am I ready to give you my advice."

Mary's cheek turned pale as he approached ; but she replied, mourn-
fully, " My best and most tried counsellors have been taken from me,
sir, and I know not in whom I may now trust."

" Trust in me, fair cousin, trust in me," replied the duke ; but Albert
Maurice interrupted him.

" I believe, sir," he said, " that it is customary for the princess,
when she wants the counsel of any individual, to send for him, and foi
aone to intrude themselves upon her without such a summons. I, hav-
ing been so honoured this morning, and, having received her com-

KARV OF BDEGDNDT. 229

mands, shall now leave her, doubting not that she will be weli pleased
that we both retire."

" School not me, Sir Citizen," replied the Duke of Gueldres, fiercely;
" for, though you fly so high a flight, by the Lord ! I may find it ne-
cessary some day to trim your wings."

Albert Maurice replied only by a glance of withering contempt,
which might have stung the other into some new violence, had not
Mary interposed. " I did not think to see such wrangling in my pre-
sence, gentlemen," she said, assuming at once that air of princely
dignity which became her station ; " I would be alone. You may
retire !" and for a single instant the commanding tone and the flashing
eye reminded those who saw her of her father, Charles the Bold.

The rude Duke of Gueldres himself was abashed and overawed ;
and, having no pretence prepared for remaining longer, he bowed, and
strode gloomily towards the door, satisfied with having interrupted
the conversation of the princess and Albert Maurice, of which he had
from some source received intimation. The young citizen followed,
not sorry to be relieved from entreaties which had nearly overcome
what he believed to be a virtuous resolution, although — with that
mixture of feelings from which scarcely any moment in human life is
exempt — he was pained and angry, at the same time, to be forced to
quit the society of one so beloved, however dangerous that society
might be to his well considered purposes. He bowed low as he de-
parted ; and Mary, dropping the tone of authority she had assumed,
with clasped hands and an imploring look, murmured, in a low tone,
" Eemember ! oh, remember !"

The Duke of Gueldres proceeded down the stairs before him, with a
heavy step and a gloomy brow. Nevertheless, that prince, whose cun-
ning and whose violence were always at war with each other, only
required a short time for thought to perceive that he could not yet,
amidst the bold designs which had been instilled into his mind, dis-
pense with the assistance and support of the young citizen ; and he
determined, as speedily as possible, to do away any unfavourable im-
pression which his rude insolence might have left upon the mind of
the other.

" Master Albert Maurice," he said, as soon as they had reached the
vestibule below, " i'faith I have to beg your pardon for somewhat
sharp speech but now. Good sooth, I am a hasty and a violent man,
and you should not cross me."

" My lord duke," replied Albert Maurice, gravely, but not angrily,
"your apology is more due to yourself than to me. It was the Duke
of Gueldres you lowered : Albert Maurice you could not degrade ;
and as to crossing you my lord, that man's violence must be a much
more terrible thing than I have ever met with yet, that could scare
me from crossing him when I felt it my duty to do so."

The Duke of Gueldres bit his lip, but made no reply ; for there was
a commanding spirit about the young burgher which, supported by
the great power he possessed in the state, the other felt he could not
eope with, at least till he had advanced many steps farther in popular
favour. He turned away, angrily, however, seeing that conciliation
was also vain ; and, flinging himself on his horse, rode off with the
few attendants whom he had collected in haste to accompany hkn to
the palace.

230 MARY OF BUKGUNDT.

Albert Maurice returned more slowly to the town-house, clearly peiv-
eeiving that the coming of the Duke of Gueldres, in the midst of his
conference with the princess, had not been accidental, and endeavour-
ing, as he rode on, to fix with certainty upon the person who had given
that prince the information on which he had acted.

CHAPTER XXIX.

A day intervened : but at noon on that which followed, an immense,
dense crowd was assembled in the open space before the town-house
of Ghent. Nevertheless, though the multitude was perhaps greater
than ever the Square of St. Pharailde had contained before, there was
a stillness about it all, which spoke that men were anticipating some
great event. Each one who spoke addressed his neighbour in that low
tone which argues awe : but by far the greater part of the people re-
mained perfectly silent, with their eyes turned towards the town-
house, immediately in front of which stood a scaffold hung with black
cloth, supporting two low blocks of wood, and surrounded by a large
party of the burgher guard. A still larger body of the same troops
kept the space between the scaffold and the public building before
which it was placed ; and, in all, the armed force present seemed more
than sufficient to keep order and overawe the evil-disposed. In fact,
the regular municipal power had beer, increased to an extraordinary
degree during the last fortnight, both by an extended levy amongst
the citizens themselves, and by the raising of a number of extraordi-
nary companies from amongst the peasantry of the neighbouring
districts, joined to all such disbanded soldiers as were willing to enrol
themselves under the banners of the commune. The trained force thus
at the disposal of the town-council of Ghent amounted to at least seven
thousand men, and, on the morning of which we speak, a great part of
this body were drawn up between the town-house and the scaffold,
and in the main court of the building.

At the same time it is to be remarked, that almost all the burghers,
and a number of the peasantry of the country round about, had pro-
vided themselves with warlike weapons, since the first disturbances
which followed the death of the duke ; so that the multitude which
thronged the space before the town-house appeared universally in
arms. The principal weapons with which they had furnished them-
selves were leng pikes ; and any one gazing over the market-place
might have fancied it crowded by an immense body of dismounted
lancers; but, at the same time, a number of the more wealthy were
provided with swords also ; and one or two appeared more in the
guise of regular men-at-arms than simple citizens.

It was remarked that amidst the assembly were a number of per-
sons with somewhat hard features and weather-beaten countenances,
habited in the ordinary dress of peasants, but in general better armed
than the rest of the people. These men seemed to have but few ac-
quaintances in the town, but wherever any two of them met, they
appeared instantly to recognise each other ; and, by a quiet, unob-
trusive, but steady movement forward, they gradually made their way
one by one through the crowd, to the immediate vicinity of the scaf-
fold. Another circumstance, also, was noticed by those persons in the
crowd who employed all their vacant moments in looking about

MAET OF BURGUNDY. 2E1

them, which was, that close to the head of one of the bands of tha
burgher guard, and conversing from time to time with the officer who
commanded it, appeared a young man of a powerful and active form,
dressed as a common man-at-arms, with the beaver of his helmet, at
what was called the half-spring ; in short, so far open as to give him
plenty of air, yet not sufficiently thrown up to expose his face.

In those days, it must be remembered, that the appearance of men
in armour had nothing extraordinary in it, either in the country or the
town, and consequently such a sight was not at all uncommon in the
streets of Ghent at any time ; but it had become far more so since
the burghers had assumed the authority they now claimed, as not a
few of the rich young merchants, every now and then, chose to ape
the nobles, whom they were desirous of overthrowing ; and would ap-
pear in the streets, clothed, like the ghost of Hamlet's father, in com-
plete steel.

Whether the captain of the band to whom the stranger addressed
himself, was or was not previously acquainted with the man-at-arms,
he seemed well pleased with his company, which certainly somewhat
tended to relieve the irksome anticipation of a disagreeable duty.
Their conversation, however, soon appeared to turn upon more im-
portant matters ; and they spoke quick and eagerly, though in so low
a tone, that only a few words of what they said reached the by-
standers.

" I wish them no ill, poor wretches, God knows," the captain of
the band was heard to say, in reply to something the other had
whispered the moment before. Two or three indistinct sentences
succeeded ; and then, he again answered, " If any one would begin, I
would follow ; we have as good a right to a say in the matter as any
one else."

Again the man-at-arms spoke with him rapidly, and the other re-
joined in a low and hurried tone — " Stay ! I will see what the men say!
Stand back, sir!" he added, pushing back, angrily, one of the crowd,
who intruded upon the open space, and came within earshot. He
then walked leisurely along the file of men that he commanded,
speaking a few words, now to one, now to another ; and then, turning
back with an air of assumed indifference, he said to the person with
whom he had before been speaking, " It will do! They do not want
any more blood spilt. They are all murmuring to a man. Go and
talk with the captain on the other side."

While this was passing in the immediate vicinity of the scaffold,
several of the persons I have described as looking like weather-beaten
peasants, had, in making their way through the crowd, paused to
speak with a number of the citizens ; at first asking some questions
in regard to the multitude, and the dark preparations before the
town-house, as if ignorant of what had lately taken place in the
city. They then generally proceeded to comment on the reply made
to them ; and then something was always said about the shame and
horror of staining their market-place with public executions for
state crimes which the events of a few weeks might render no crimes
at all.

Thus, one of them demanded of a fat burgher, by whom he passed,
" Why, what is the matter, neighbour ? This looks as if they wer?
going to cut off some one's head."

232 MAEY OF BUKGUNDT.

" And so they are, to be sure," replied the citizen. "They are
going to do execution upon the Lord of Imbercourt, and Ilugonet the
Chancellor, who were condemned this morning for treating with
France and receiving bribes."

"Ay, did they receive bribes?" rejoined the peasant: "that is
strange enough; for I always thought that they were as free and
liberal of their gold, to those who needed it, as any men living, and
coveted nothing belonging to another ; and those are not the sort ot
men, I have heard say, who usually receive bribes."

"Ay, that is true enough, indeed!" answered the citizen, with a
sigh.

"But did they really receive bribes?" persevered the peasant.
" Was it ulearly proved ?"

" No, no, I believe not," replied the citizen. " Proof they could
not get — proof they could not get; but there was strong suspicion."

"Tis hard a man should die for mere suspicion, though; for who
would be safe if that were law?" said the other. "If I had been
one of them, I would have appealed to the King of France and court
of peers."

"Whv, so they both did," replied the citizen; "but they are to die
for all that."

"Then I would not be a citizen of Ghent for ten thousand crowns,"
answered the peasant; "for, by the Lord! Louis and his peers will
be like to hang every one of them that he catches ; and it is a sad
thing to be hanged for spilling innocent blood. Were I one of the
citizens of Ghent, they should never stain the market-place in such a
way while I had a voice to raise against it."

"Ay, ay, it is very sad!" said the citizen: "and I dare say if any
one would begin, many a man would cry out against it too."

"Well, well," answered the other. "I must forward, and see what
is going on; and I hope some one will cry out against it."

Thus speaking, the peasant, as he seemed to be, pushed his way on
for a little distance, and then, pausing by another of the citizens, held
with him a short conversation, like that which we have just narrated,
asking very nearly the same questions, and making very nearly the
same observations on the answers he received.

The instance which has just been particularized was only one out
of many ; for in every part of the crowd were to be seen persons simi-
lar in appearance to the man whose conversation we have just de-
tailed, and who acted precisely upon the same plan, though the
words they made use of might be slightly different. The man-at-
arms who, as we have mentioned, had been talking with the captain
of one of the city bands, in accordance with the intimation he had
received, wa«, in the meantime, making his way round to speak with
the person who commanded the company at the other side of the
scaffold. As, in his apparent military capacity, he strode boldly
across the space kept clear in front of the scaffold, and consequently
encountered none of the impediments which might have delayed him,
had he attempted to proceed through the crowd, he would, probably,
soon have accomplished this purpose ; but at that moment a consi-
derable noise and disturbance was heard in the direction of the
town-house, mingled with shouts of "They are coming I They are
coming !"

MARY OF BURGUNDY. 235

The ear of the man-at-arms immediately caught the sound. He
paused for a single instant ; and then taking a step back to a spot
whence he could descry the intermediate space between the scaffold
and the town-house, he saw a body of people moving from the princi-
pal entrance of that edifice, through a double line of the burgher
guard. The procession consisted of a number of the municipal council,
a body of various officers of state, Maillotin du Bac, the prevot mare-
chal, two executioners with naked axes, and the unfortunate nobles
Imbercourt and Hugonet, bound and bare-headed.

The man-at-arms instantly perceived that he would not have time
to accomplish what he proposed; and with three strides he placed
himself once more by the side of the officer with whom he had before
been speaking. Gathered at the same point were, by this time, at
least a hundred and fifty of the peasant-looking men whom we have
before described ; and, forcing their way through the crowd in every
direction, with no longer any affectation of ceremony or regard to the
convenience of those they thrust out of their way, there appeared a
number of others perfectly similar in appearance. The eyes of the
whole of this distinct body were evidently turned upon the "man-at-
arms ; and it was observed that the one who stood nearest to him held
something enveloped in the flap of his coarse brown coat, as if to be
given at a moment's notice.

"Now," said the man-at-arms, addressing the captain of the burgher
guard, " do your duty as a brave man, as a good citizen, and more, as
a good Christian, and you shall have plenty of support."

" But who are you ?" demanded the captain of the guard, eyeing
him eagerly; "who are you, who so boldly promise support in such a
case as this ?"

" I am the Vert Gallant of Hannut," replied the man-at-arms ; and
at the same moment, stretching back his hand to the peasant behind
him, he received a broad green scarf and plume, the one of which he
fastened instantly in his casque, and waved the other, for a moment,
high in the air before he threw it over his shoulder.

The signal had an instantaneous effect. The brown coarse coats of
the peasants were thrown off, and they appeared armed in steel
corslets and brassards, while the distinctive marks of the well-known
Green Eiders of Hannut were seen boldly displayed in the midst of
the streets of Ghent. Although where each of these men was making
his way onward, and at the point where so many had already congre-
gated, this sudden change occasioned a considerable sensation ; yet
the great body of the crowd was agitated by so many different feel-
ings, and the tumult was at that moment so great, that the transac-
tion did not attract general attention. Almost every one throughout
the multitude was, indeed, moved by sensations of his own ; and
each nearly at once gave voice to those feelings, as his eye hap-
pened to catch different points in the scene that was passing in the
square.

"They are coming; they are coming!" shouted some. "Where?
Where ?" exclaimed others. " Who the devil are these ?" cried those
who saw the green riders. "Death to the enemies of Ghent!" voci-
ferated the fierce. "Poor wretches! will no mercy be shown to them?"
said the pitiful. " What a large axe ! How pale they look ! Who
are those behind ?" cried others of the crowd.

234 MARY OF BURGUNDY.

In the meanwhile the mournful procession came on. The new
eschevins of Ghent, elected by the people themselves, mounted the
scaffold, and ranged themselves around, to see the sentence they had
lately pronounced carried into execution. The two executioners took
their places by the blocks, and leaned the axes which they bore against
them, while they made themselves ready to go through the prepara-
tory part of their sad function. The condemned nobles followed
after, and several members of the municipal council — but Albert
Maurice was not amongst them — closed the whole, and occupied the
only vacant space left at the back of the scaffold. At the same mo-
ment a gentleman in splendid arms, half concealed under a surcoat
of costly embroidery, followed by a number of richly-dressed atten-
dants, forced his way rudely through the crowd, and thrust himself
closely to the foot of the scaffold, on the opposite side to that where
the Vert Gallant had placed himself. He then crossed his arms upon
his broad, bull-like chest, and stood gazing upon the awful scene that
was proceeding above, with a look of ruthless satisfaction.

The Lord of Imbercourt at once advanced to the front of the scaffold,
and gazed round upon the multitude before him. He was very pale,
it is true ; but his step was as firm as when he strode the council-
chamber in the height of his power: and not a quiver of the lip, not
a twinkle of the eyelid, betrayed that there was such a thing as fear
at his heart.

"Must I die with my hands tied, like a common felon?" he said,
addressing the executioner.

" Not if your lordship is prepared to die without offering resistance,"
replied the other.

"I am prepared, sir," answered Imbercourt, "to die as I have lived,
calmly, honestly, fearlessly."

The executioner began to untie his hands ; and the Vert Gallant,
giving one glance round the crowd, apparently to ascertain the
proximity of his followers, drew forward his sword-belt, and loosened
the weapon in the sheath. Imbercourt, at the same time, was advanc-
ing as far as possible, as if to address the people, and the whole mul-
titude, seeing it, kept a profound silence ; when suddenly, in the midst
of the still hush — just as the Vert Gallant of Hannut was passing
round the head of the file of burgher guards till he was within a
few steps of the scaffold itself— a sweet and plaintive voice, which
would have been inaudible under any other circumstances, was
heard from amongst the crowd exclaiming, "Oh, let me pass! for
God's sake, let me pass! They are murdering my faithful servants.
Let me pass; in pity, in mercy let me pass!"

"It is the princess! it is the princess!" cried a number of voices:
"let her pass! let her pass!" and, by an involuntary movement of
feeling and compassion, the people drew hastily back on either side,
and Mary of Burgundy, in the deep mourning of an orphan, with her
bright hair escaped from her veil, and flowing wide over her shoulders,
her face deluged in tears, and her hands clasped in agony, rushed for-
ward in the open space, and, casting herself upon her knees before the
people of Ghent, exclaimed aloud the only words she could utter,
"Oh, spare them — spare them!"*

* It may be necessary to inform those wli o are not deeply read in the chroniclai
•f France, that this fact is minutelj accurate.

MARY OF EURGUNDT. 235

"Yes, yes," cried an honest burgher from the crowd, " we will spare
them. Out upon it! has not the prince always had power to show
mercy? Hark ye, neighbours, pikes and swords for Martin Eruse!
On upon the scaffold ! We will save them !"

"Back, false citizen; back!" cried the cavalier in the glittering
dress we have described. " What, would you interrupt the course of
justice ! By the sun in heaven, they shall die the death!" and, draw-
ing his sword, he threw himself between the people and the scaffold.

All was now tumult and confusion ; and in one instant it seemed
as if a general spirit of civil strife had seized upon every part of the
multitude. Some shouted, "Mercy for them! mercy for them!"
Some, "Justice! justice! slay the traitors!" Pikes were crossed, and
swords were drawn on all sides. The burgher guards were as divided
as the people. Mary of Burgundy was borne fainting behind the
scaffold ; and those upon the scaffold itself seemed paralysed by sur-
prise and fear. But the green scarfs and burgonets of the Eiders of
Hannut were seen forcing their way forward through the press in
spite of all opposition ; and at the same moment the thundering voice
of the Vert Gallant was heard rising above everything else : " On, on
to the scaffold, friends of mercy!" he cried. "Lord of Imbercourt,
cast yourself over, you are amongst friends!"

Imbercourt might have done so ; but he was instantly seized by
Maillotin du Bac and one of the executioners, who unhappily awoke
from their first consternation in time to prevent him from seizing the
opportunity which was unexpectedly presented to him.

The Vert Gallant, however, pushed forward, sword in hand. All
gave way, or went down before him ; the pikes opposed to his breast
shivered like withered boughs beneath his arm ; and he was within
a yard of the spot where Imbercourt stood, when he was encountered,
hand to hand, by the cavalier we have before mentioned ; and each
found that he had met an enemy very different from the burghers by
whom they were surrounded. Each was powerful and skilful ; but
the Vert Gallant had, by more than twenty years, the advantage of
his adversary ; and feeling that the fate of Imbercourt must be de-
cided in the twinkling of an eye — for the guards and executioners
were forcing him down to the block — he showered his blows upon his
adversary with a thundering rapidity that in a moment brought him
upon his knees. He was still, however, between the young cavalier
and the scaffold ; and, fierce with the eagerness of the encounter,
Hugh of Gueldres drew back his arm, to plunge the point of his sword
into the throat of his opponent, when the voice of one of the cavalier's
attendants exclaimed aloud, "Save the duke! Eor God's sake, save
the Duke of Gueldres ! Eorbear! forbear!"

The Vert Gallant paused, gazing upon his prostrate enemy, with
feelings that can be understood, when it is remembered that it was
his own father, who, beaten down by his superior strength, lay within
an inch of his sword's point, raised for the purpose of terminating
their struggle by a parent's death. His eyes grew dim, his brain
reeled, the sword dropped from his hand, and he fell back upon the
pavement, without power or consciousness.

At the same moment, the axe of the executioner swung high in the
air; there was a dull, heavy blow, a rush of dark blood poured oveJ

e scaffold, and the Lord of Imbercourt was no more.

236 MARY OF BUKGUNDT.

CHAPTER XXX.

It is a sad thing for a calm, retired student, to sit down and depict
the fierce and terrible passions which sometimes animate his fellow-
beings ; and it is scarcely possible to tell how worn and shaken hia
whole frame feels, after hurrying through some scene of angry violence
and wild commotion. He meets, indeed, with compensations in pur-
suing his task. There may be a high and indescribable pleasure in
portraying the better qualities of human nature in all their grand and
beautiful traits ; in describing sweet scenes of nature, and in striv-
ing to find latent associations between the various aspects of the
material world and the mind, the feelings, or the fate of ourselves and
our fellow-men. Nay, more, there may be some touch of satisfaction
— part self-complacency, part gratified curiosity — in tracing the petty
things of humanity mingling with the finer ones, the mighty and the
mean counterbalancing each other within the same bosom, and in dis-
covering that the noblest of recorded earthly beings is linked on to
our little selves by some fond familiar fault or empty vanity. But at
the same time, though not so wearing as to paint the struggle of
mighty energies called forth on some great occasion, it is even more
painful, perhaps, to sit and draw the same strong passions working
by inferior means, and employing the low and treacherous slave,
Gunning, instead of the bold bravo, Daring. To such a picture, how-
ever, we must now turn.

It was on the evening of the day, whose sanguinary commence-
ment we have already noticed, that, placed calmly by a clear wood
fire, with all the means of comfort, and even luxury around him,
Ganay, the druggist, sat pondering over the past and the future.
Neither he himself, nor Albert Maurice, had appeared at the execu-
tion of Imbercoftrt and Hugonet — the one careless of what else oc-
curred, so that his bitter revenge was gratified — the other naturally
abhorring scenes of blood. The druggist, however — though where it
was necessary he neither wanted courage to undertake, nor hardihood
to execute the most daring actions — was ever well pleased to let
more careless fools perform the perilous parts of an enterprise, em-
ploying the time, which would have been thus filled up by action, in
thinking over the best means of reaping his own peculiar harvest
from the seed sown by others. He now revolved every circumstance
of his present situation, and scanned the future — that dim and
uncertain prospect— with steady eyes, determined to force his way
onward, through its mists and obstacles, without fear and without
remorse.

The predominant sensation in his bosom, however, was gratification
at the consummation of his long sought revenge. The man whom he
most hated on earth, who had offered him a personal indignity, and
who had refused pardon to his son, he had sent to join the unhappy
magistrates who had condemned that base and flagitious boy ; and
when he contemplated the difficulties he had surmounted to bring
about that act of vengeance, the schemes lie had formed and perfected,
the events which he had turned from their natural course by his sole
art to accomplish his purpose, the men he had used as instruments,

MARY OF BUKGUNDT. 237

and the passions he had bent to his designs — when he contemplated,
I say, the whole course of his triumphant machinations, there rose1
up in his bosom that pride of successful villany, which is so often the
ultimate means of its own punishment by the daring confidence which
it inspires.

The maxim of Kochefoucault is applicable to men as well as women.
"Where was there ever the man who paused at one evil act ? Ganay
had previously determined to limit all his efforts to the death of the
eschevins and of Imbercourt ; but his very success in that endeavour
had entailed the necessity and furnished the encouragement to new
and, if possible, less justifiable acts. Nevertheless, it must not be
thought that there was no such thing as a thrill of remorse ever
entered his bosom. There probably never yet was a man, however he
might brave it to the world, who, with a bosom loaded with crimes,
did not feel remorse when solitary thought left him a prey to memory.
Conscience is an Antaeus, that, though often cast to the earth by the
Herculean passions of man's heart, rises ever again re-invigorated by
its fall ; and he must be strong, indeed, who can strangle it alto-
gether.

Eemorse mingled its bitter drop even with the cup of Ganay's tri-
umph ; and while he gazed upon the crackling embers, the joy of his
successes faded away ; a feeling of age, and solitude, and crime, crept
over his heart; and the memories of other years — the hopes and dreams
of boyhood and innocence, rose up, and painfully contrasted them-
selves with the mighty disappointment of successful vice. Through
life he had found many means of stifling such murmurs of the heart, in
the excitement of new schemes and the intricacies of tortuous policy ;
but now he had learned another way of lulling the mind together with
the body ; and, rising with his usual calm and quiet pace, he ap-
proached a cupboard, poured a small silver cup half full of ardent
spirits, and then swallowed in its contents a certain portion of that
narcotic which he had found so soothing under the first anguish of
his son's death. Then carefully replacing the cup and the vial, he
again took his seat before the fire, and listened, as if waiting for some
visitor.

He was not kept long in expectation ; for, in a very few minutes
after, the door was opened by the boy, and Maillotin du Bac entered
without farther announcement. The cheek of the Prevot was flushed
with wine, and his lip curled with triumph ; but be had by this time
learned the influence of Ganay in the affairs of Ghent too completely
to treat him with aught but the most profound deference. After some
formality, he took the seat that Ganay offered ; and hypocras and
wine having been brought in, with spices and comfits, he helped him-
self largely, and then, at the request of the druggist, recapitulated the
events connected with the execution of the morning, which we need
not repeat.

" So now," said the Prevot, in conclusion, speaking of the unhappy
Imbercourt, "he is dead, and that score is cleared. Master Ganay, I
give you joy, with all my heart ! Your son's death is nobly avenged,
and you can sleep in peace. Now, give me joy in return."

" I do ! I do ' Sir Prevot," replied Ganay, grasping the hand the
other held out to him in his thin fingers : " I do! I do, with all my
heart!"

238 MART OF BURGUNDY.

" But stay! stay!" cried Maillotin du Bac ; "you do not yet know
for what. Hark ye, Master Ganay, revenge is sweet to every honour-
able man. Did you ever hear tell of the "Vert Gallant of Hannut ? Did.
you ever hear how he overpowered me by numbers, and disgraced me
as a man and a knight ? He delivered yon proud Albert Maurice,
too, when he was a less worm than he is now. Well, he it was who,
as I tell you, encountered the good Duke of Gueldres, and would
have slain him, had not his own foot slipped, or some one dashed him
down, and the duke was rescued."

"Well, well, what of him?" cried the druggist; " what has befallen
him?"

" Why, he is safe in the prison of the town-house," replied the
Prevot, " and shall die after seven days' torture, if I live to the end of
them. His fellows, somehow, cut their way through, and got out of
the press, every one of them ; but he himself was trodden down as he
lay, by the people, and was taken up by the burgher guard, half dead,
after the crowd dispersed. We shall give him two or three days to re-
cover. There is no use of killing him like a rat caught in a trap, you
know, and just knocking his head against the stones, without letting
him know why or wherefore. No, no ! we must give him time to re-
cover his strength and his senses, or he will die upon the first wheeL
But there is more — there is more to be told still," continued the Pre-
vot, rather heated by the wine, and seeing that the other was about to
reply. " Who, think you, this famous long-concealed Vert Gallant
proves to be at last ? Who but the nephew of that old sorcerer, the
Lord of Hannut ? and, by the holy cross ! if ever I live to see quiet
times again, that vile, heathenish wizard shall roast in the market-
place of Brussels, if there be such a thing as law and religion in the
land. I knew it all the time ! Bless you, Master Ganay, I saw through
it all, from the time I was at the castle. I told the Lord of Imber-
court that his nephew was the brigand leader ; you may ask him if 1
did not — though, by the way, he won't answer, for he is dead — but
I told him, nevertheless, that I was sure it was the old man's nephew
Master Ganay, here's to you !"

Ganay had turned somewhat pale as the other spoke : but he showe""
no farther sign of discomposure ; and replied immediately : " His ne-
phew ! You must mistake. He has no nephew. He once had a son !"
he added, in a voice, the tremulous tone of which the Prevot, whose
faculties had not been rendered more pellucid by the wine he had
drunk, attributed to the painful remembrance of his own loss — " he
once had a son ! But the boy died in infancy "

" Nay," replied Maillotin du Bac, " of that I know nothing. All I
know is that this youth is his nephew — this Sir Hugh de Mortmar."

" But I tell thee, good friend, it cannot be," rejoined the druggist,
somewhat sharply. " No nephew has he. Surely I should know."

" Well, well, 'tis all the same," cried the Prevot. " If not his ne-
phew, he passes as such ; and die he shall, after the torture has racked
his every limb. Ay, Master Ganay, he shall die," he added, clasping
his strong and sinewy hand tight, as if holding some substance which
he was determined to let no power on earth wring from his grasp ;
" he shall die, although your precious President were to give his right
hand to save him ; and if, out of what he calls his fine feelings, he at-
tempt to repay the good turn the Vert Gallant did him at Hannut,

MAKV OF BUKGUNDY. 239

and free him from prison in return, lie may chance to stumble at that
step himself, and die along with him. I owe him something, too,
which I have not forgot. So let him look to it."

Ganay mused for several minutes over the words of his companion,
who spoke evidently under the excitement both of passion and drink.
The wine, however, had not very deeply affected his discretion ; and
the momomt after, remembering the close connexion between the drug-
gist and Albert Maurice, the Prevot added, "Not that I mean any
harm to your friend, Master Ganay, only let him not meddle with my
prisoner ; that is all. I am sure I have refrained from seeking any
vengeance against him himself, simply because he is your friend ; and
will not, if he keep his hands from interfering with my affairs."

Still Ganay was silent, and remained musing, with his eyes bent
upon the fire, till he perceived tiiat Maillotin du Bac, somewhat dis-
composed by his companion's taciturnity, and imagining that he had
made a blunder in regard to Albert Maurice, was again about to apply
to the bowl of spiced wine, as the best means of restoring his confi-
dence and composure. At that moment the druggist, stretching out
his hand, caught him gently by the arm, saying, " Stay, stay, Master
Prevot, we have both had enough of that for the present ; and as we
may have many things to speak of which require cool heads, let us
refrain till all is settled, and then drink our fill."

" Well, well, 'tis the same to me," rejoined the Prevot, relinquishing
the bowl, and taking his seat once again. "What would you say,
Master Ganay ? Command me ; for you know that we are linked to-
gether by the same interests, and therefore are not likely to differ."

" Well, then, listen for a moment, good Sir Maillotin, while I just
tell you a few things concerning this Lord of Hannut, which, though
they belong to the days past, do not the less bear upon the days
present."

The druggist then paused, and again mused for a moment in deep
thought, ere he proceeded ; and in his countenance there was that air
of deep calculating thought, which may often be seen in the face of a
skilful chess player, when pausing, with suspended finger, over some
critical move. At length he went on: li We must both serve each
other, Sir Maillotin ; and if you will aid me in what I propose, I will
help you to what you wish, though you dare not even hope for it."

" Speak, speak ! Master Ganay," replied the Prevot ; " and fear not
that I will refuse to serve you willingly and well. We have drawn
vastly well together yet ; and there is no danger of our not doing so to
the end."

Still, however, the druggist hesitated for some minutes ; for though
he could assume a false frankness as well as any one, he was not by
nature at all communicative, and what he had resolved, upon long de-
liberation, to propose to the Prevot, required a more full confidence
than he could place in any one without pain. " I will tell you a story,"
ie said at length, " I will tell you a story, good Maillotin du Bac.
Listen then. 'Tis just two-and-thirty years ago since I first heard much
of this Lord of Hannut, who was then a bright, brave young cavalier,
whose life was not to be counted on for two hours together, so much
tvas his courage better than his prudence. He had, as well you know
he etill has, ample wealth and large possessions ; while his cousiii, the
present Duke of Gueldres, whose father was then living, was so muni-

240 MARY OP BUItGUNDT.

ficent a prince, as often to be pinched for a hundred florins. Report
said that the young duke, who was then heir to Hannut, piously
wished that his gallant cousin might find the road to heaven speedily.
But, as fate would have it, the Lord of Hannut one day unexpectedly
married, and within a year his fair lady made him the father of a son,
of which she was delivered at their pleasure-house of Lindenmar. All
this went mightily against the stomach of the good young Lord of
Gueldres, whose father, then living, kept him on scanty means ; when,
by another strange turn of fate, the pleasure-house of Lindenmar was
burnt to the ground, and the infant son of the young Lord of Hannut
perished in the flames. As fortune would have it, a detachment of
Duke Philip's army was marching over the hill, within sight at the
time, and with it was my good Lord of Gueldres, together with Thibalt
of Neufchatel, and a number of other knights and nobles. As soon as
the fire was discovered, they all galloped down to put out the flames ;
and my Lord of Gueldres might have passed for as zealous a friend as
the rest, had he not been fool enough to cry out, as if in jest, to let the
whole place burn, so that he had the lands of Hannut."

"He had better have kept that to himself," interrupted the Prevot,
shaking his head sagaciously. " No man has a worse enemy than his
own tongue. The good duke should have learned that it is better never
to let people know one's wishes, for they are never long in discovering
one's designs afterwards."

"He has marred all his good fortune through life," replied Ganay,
" by those rough sayings of his ; for though he says no more than
other men think, yet he makes all men that hear him his enemies, by
exposing their feelings while confessing his own."

"However," continued the druggist, after this sage and liberal
observation, " down he came with the rest, of course, to make them
think what he said was a mere joke, and plunged into the flames with
the foremost. All was confusion, and no one knew what the other
was doing. The Lord of Hanuut himself was stunned by the fall of
a beam upon his head, and was with difficulty dragged out by his
servants. Thibalt of Neufchatel, his great friend and brother in arms,
carried out the lady unhurt, through the midst of the flames ; but the
heir of Hannut perished, and for some hours, no one could tell what
had become of Adolphus of Gueldres."

" Why you describe it all as well as if you had been there yourself,"
said Maillotin du Bac.

"I was there," replied the druggist, drily; "but you shall hear.
What put it into Thibalt of Neufchatel's head, I know not ; but,
after saving the lady, he rushed back again into the house, and find-
ing me in the farther wing, he dragged me out by the hair of the
head, vowing that I had kindled the fire. Now, you must know that
I was then a humble friend and domestic surgeon to the young Duke
of Gueldres ; and when they searched my person, they found a number
of letters, which they thought of very doubtful meaning, and a few
drugs, the use of which their ignorance could not comprehend, and
which they wanted much to prove were materials for secretly light-
ing a flame. The good duke, too, was not present ; and under all
these circumstances, they had nearly killed me on the spot. I took
it all silently, for a man can but die once in this world, and very
little does it matter when that once may fall. All I said was to call

MARY OP BUKGLNDV. 241

my young lord, for that he would clear me; and they agreed, at
length, to spare me till the duke, that is at present, could be found,
lie was not heard of, however, till the next day, when it was dis-
covered that he had retired to a neighbouring village, much scorched
by the flames. He instantly despatched a letter to the Lord of Neuf-
chatel, informing him that he himself had sent me to inquire after
the health of his fair cousins, the Lord and Lady of ITannut, which
was the cause that I had not been seen accompanying him with the
rest of the army. The servants of the household of Lindenmar
vouched for my coming the evening before on that errand, and gave
a good report of my proceedings. The Lord of Hannut himself joined
to exculpate me, and I easily found means to convince Thibalt of
Neufchatel that he had grossly ill-treated me, and foully aspersed
my character. Had he continued to treat me ill, I might have de-
vised a way to satisfy myself; but, on the contrary, as soon as he
was convinced of my innocence, nothing would serve him to testify
his sorrow for what had occurred, and to compensate the injury he
had inflicted. He kept his eye upon me through life, and I may well
say, has been the origin of all my fortunes. The proofs he gathered
together of the charge against me, and of my innocence, he has al-
ways kept in his own possession ; and I have not chosen to press for
their being given up to me, lest it should seem that I was afraid of
anything therein contained. Do you understand me ?"

" Quite well," replied Maillotin du Bac, drawing his clear hawk's
eyes together, with a shrewd glance upon the druggist's face — " quite
well. What more ?"

"Why this," answered the druggist: " I love not be in the power
of any man. While Adolphus of Gueldres was in prison, and likely
to remain there — while Thibalt of Neufchatel was living and likely
to live — the matter did not much signify; but now that Adolphus of
Gueldres is free, and that Thibalt of Neufchatel is dying of the
wounds he received at Nancy, it might be as well that those papers
were in my own possession. Thus, then it must be managed, Sir
Prevot: you must find some excuse to take possession of his house
with your men-at-arms the moment the breath is out of his body ;
and while you are sealing up the effects, I may be looking for the
papers."

"But what, suppose I keep them in my possession for you?" de-
manded Maillotin du Bac, with one of his shrewd looks.

" Why, then," replied the druggist, calmly, " I cannot aid you in
overthrowing Albert Maurice, and in obtaining possession of his per-
son and his wealth."

" I understand," said the Prevot ; " we are agreed. But what surety
have I that you will do so when you have the papers ?"

"This," answered Ganay, without any expression of indignation
at a doubt of his honesty, which he felt to be perfectly natural;
but, at the same time, approaching closer to the Prevot, and speak-
in a low, but clear and emphatic tone — "this, that Albert Mau-
rice— by what means I know not — has discovered my secret, and
must die."

"Good! good!" replied the Prevot; "'tis better than a bond! We
are agreed, we are agreed, mine excellent good friend. But, hark
ye, Ganay, there is one bad stone in the arch. This Thibalt of

842 MASV O? BUHOOSDT.

Neufchatel, this good Count Thibalt, is marvellously better to.
day. It would seem that the death of Imbercourt and Hugonet
had done him good ; for, about the time of the axe falling, he began
to mend."

Ganay, as was his habit when he heard any unpalatable tidings, re»
plied nought, but fixed his eyes upon the fire, and mused. " He is an
old man," said the druggist, at length, speaking in a low and quiet
voice — " he is an old man, this good Count Thibalt."

" Ay, doubtless is he," replied Maillotin du Bac, who was one of
those people who take a keen delight in discovering difficulties and
objections, solely for the sake of giving pain and disappointment to
those whom they were likely to thwart ; " but he is a hale old man,
and may live these twenty years, if he get over this bout."

" He must have had enough of life," continued Ganay, in the same
meditative tone. "It is time he were asleep. Adolphus of Guel-
dres has visited his sick couch more than once. It is time he were
asleep."

The Prevot was silent; and Ganay, after considering his hawk-
like features for a moment or two with an inquiring glance, added
quietly, " Well, well, Sir Maillotin, we will see. These sudden gleams
of convalescence often precede death in the badly wounded. I know
these matters better than you do, my good friend, and I have no faith
in this sudden and strange amendment. Let us keep ourselves in
readiness and wait the result. You will be prepared at a moment's
notice," he added, in a more sharp and decided tone, throwing off at
once the quiet conversational manner of his former speech ; " per-
chance he may die to-morrow, perchance the next day ; but be you
on the watch, and ever ready to secure the house."

"I will! I will;" answered Maillotin du Bac; and then speaking
to the druggist's purpose more than to his words, he added, " I will
be ready to secure the house and all that, Master Ganay; but I can
do no more in this business. To take men off except by the cord or
the steel, when they have merited their fate, is out of my line ot
operations."

" Who required you to do so ?" demanded the druggist, gravely.
" No, no, Sir Prevot, men may die without your help or mine either.
So, now to the bowl ! We understand each other, and that is enough.
Be you ready when I send to warn you that the good count is dead.
If he live, you know, which is likely, vastly likely — if he live, why
all the rest is in the moon. Sir Prevot, I carouse to your good rest
this night ; do me justice — do me justice in the bowl!"

Thus ended their more important conversation ; and all that passed
farther referred to the mysteries of the tankard, and need not be here
inflicted on the reader. It may be necessary to observe, however, that
the druggist did not suffer the Prevot Marechal to leave his house till
he had imbibed a sufficient quantity of various kinds of intoxicating
liquors to require the aid of two stout men to bear him home ; and
that Ganay himself was, at the same time, incapable of quitting the
chair in which he sat.

It may be asked, was a man of such subtle schemes an habitual
drunkard, then ? Far from it, though he could drink as deep as any
one, when some object might be gained by so doing : but he was one
«£ those men whose limbs only became inebriated, if we may use such

MARY OP BURGUNDY. 243

an expression, while their brain remains unclouded ; and the debauch
in which he indulged was one of calculation, not pleasure. He had
soon seen that, in the case of the Prevot, the prudent guard which
was usually placed upon his lips was half asleep at the post long before
their conversation was over; and though he believed that he could
trust to old habits of caution to keep his companion from any indis-
creet babbling, either drunk or sober, yet he determined not to let
him leave his dwelling till utterance itself was drowned in wine. Of
himself he had no fear ; and, leaning on his boy, he tottered to his
bed in silence.

CHAPTEE XXXI.

On, the dull silent hours of the night, when not a sound stirs upon
the heavy air to steal one thought from man's communion with his
own dark heart ! — when the stern silence renders the sleep that covers
all the world more like one universal death, and everything around us
bids our conscience scan the brief records of our past existence, and
prejudge us for the long eternity ! The days had been, when, on a
clear spring-tide night, like that — while all the countless stars seemed
living diamonds in the heaven — Albert Maurice, full of fine soul and
noble aspirations, would have gazed forth enchanted ; and, without
one heavy tie between his heart and the low earth, would have bade
his spirit soar up in grand, calm dreams to heaven — when, between
him and the multitude of bright orbs that sparkled before his eyes,
there would have been felt a communion and a sympathy; and when
the knowledge that each wondrous frame was the creation of the same
Almighty hand, would have awakened in his bosom a feeling of kin-
dred with the living lights of the sky. But now, how heavy was the
night! how dark! how hopeless! how reproachful! There was a
voice even in the solemn stillness ; and the blood, which yet reeked
upon the scaffold beneath the very windows of the apartment where
he sat, seemed crying up, through the silence of the universe, to the
Judge enthroned above those eternal stars.

He was left, too, entirely alone, and had been so during the greater
part of the day ; for such was the awful sensation produced in Ghent
by the events of the morning, that all the shops were shut, and every
kind of business was very generally suspended. Even the affairs of
the city seemed to be neglected by general consent. Neither the
council of the town, nor the deputies of the states, returned to consult
over the future. Nor was it the higher functionaries alone that
seemed to feel this sort of bewildered apathy. The clerks and secre-
taries were absent ; net above one or two of the many couriers usually
in attendance were now found in readiness ; and Albert Maurice,
after having endeavoured, in vain, to occupy his mind with business
during' the day, found himself, at night, left in utter solitude, to re-
volve the tragedy of the morning, without any other thing to distract
his thoughts, or any voice to plead his cause against the accusation
of his own conscience.

He strove, however, to convince himself that he had acted justly.
He read over the evidence against the dead. He read over the sen-
tence of the judges. He thought over all the many specious reasons
that had before seemed to afford a thousand clear and patriotic ex«

244 MARY OF BURGUNDY.

cuses for sweeping away those whose views were liluely to thwart his
own : but the reasons had lost their force ; the sentence was mani-
festly unjust ; the evidence was broken and inconclusive.

" At all events," he thought, " the act is not mine ; the award has
been pronounced by the lawful magistrates of the land; and I have
taken no part either in the judgment or its execution."

But that pretext would not avail a moment before the stern inqui-
sitor within ; and he felt that he, in whom the real power lay, if he did
not interpose to shield the innocent, made himself responsible for
their blood.

The heart of man cannot long endure such racking self-examination;
and the most dangerous resource, but the only refuge from present
pain, is flight from thought. As sad an hour's commune with himself
as even sinful human being passed, ended with Albert Maurice, in a
resolution to think no more of the unchangeable hours of the past,
and to fix his mind upon the present. After pausing for a moment,
during which his ideas wandered confusedly over a number of objects,
without finding any subject of contemplation of sufficient importance
to withdraw his thoughts, for an instant, from the engrossing theme
that ever called them back with painful importunity, some sudden
memory seemed to come across him ; and, taking up one of the lamps,
he proceeded into the ante-chamber, in which waited several of his
attendants. Giving the light to a page, with orders to go on before,
the young citizen paced slowly through several of the halls and cor-
ridors of the town-house, his footfall, ever firm and proud, taking now
a more heavy and determined step, from the feeling of the dark, stern
deeds which he had done. Descending one of the staircases, he came
to that portion of the building which was set apart as the municipal
prison ; and, proceeding to a small chamber or lodge, he demanded
the keys of the gaoler, who was dozing by the fire.

The man immediately delivered them ; and, passing onwards, the
President of the States entered the gloomy dwelling, and descended
the staircase which led to the lowest chambers of the prison. He was
surprised, however, to perceive a light ; and the moment after, in the
low passage which ran between six or seven small heavy archways
leading to the cells, his eye fell upon a trooper of the Prevot's guard,
seated upon a stone bench at the end, employed in furbishing the steel
of his partizan by the light of a lamp above his head.

The man instantly started on his feet ; and, challenging the party
that approached, advanced his weapon, till it nearly touched the
bosom of the page. But Albert Maurice, stepping past the boy, put
the pike aside, and demanded, sternly, what the soldier did there, in
the municipal prison.

He was there, the man replied, by order of his captain, and was
commanded to give admission to none, but the gaoler with food for
the prisoner.

" Your officer is somewhat too bold !" replied the young burgher,
" and must answer for having dared to place a sentry where he him-
self has no authority. Get thee gone, good fellow — you know me —
get thee gone ; and let me not see your face within these walls again."

The man at first hesitated ; and at length refused to obey, alleging,
civilly, the commands of his own captain, which he was bound to fol-
low Well knowing the station and power of the person whom he

MAEY OF BURGUNDY. 245

addressed, he spoke with courtesy and respect: but Albert Maurica
was in that state of dissatisfied irritation, which the first reproaches
of conscience leave upon a fine and energetic mind ; and, returning to
the upper chambers, he instantly summoned a guard, and caused the
soldier to be disarmed, and confined him in one of the very dungeons
he had been placed to watch.

There was a stern fierceness in the whole proceeding, unlike his
usual decisive but mild demeanour; and those who watched him well,
remarked, that upon his mind and character, such as they had
appeared throughout the whole course of his life, that day had left a
trace which no after events could obliterate. When he had seen his
orders obeyed, he dismissed the guard, and bidding the page wait him
on the stairs, he advanced alone to one of the cells, and applied the
various keys he carried to the lock. It was some time before he found
the right one ; and he thought he heard more than one low groan,
while employed in opening the door. At length, however, he suc-
ceeded, and entered the dungeon, which was dark and dismal enough.
Stripped of arms, both offensive and defensive, and stretched upon
a pile of straw, lay the gallant and enterprising Hugh de Mortmar, as
we have generally called him, with every limb powerless and rigid, in
aonsequence of the trampling and blows he had received while trodden
tinder foot in the market-place. His fine head leaned languidly upoa
his arm, while, with a motion which, however slight, seemed full of
anguish, he turned a little as he lay, to see who it was that visited his
prison. The light, for a moment, dazzled his eyes ; but when he
perceived the face of Albert Maurice, a slight smile of pleasure played
en his lip. It was a face he knew ; it was a being on whom he had
some claim, that came to visit him ; and it is only necessary to think
over his situation— friendless, a prisoner, and alone, with every mental
power oppressed, and every corporeal faculty rigid and benumbed —
to comprehend what joy such a sight must have given, however
criminal he might hold some of his visitor's deeds to be.

The young citizen set down the lamp, and seated himself on a rude
wooden settle, which was the only article of furniture that the place
contained Bending down his head over the prisoner, he said, in a
kind and gentle tone, " Do you remember me ?"

"Well, very well," replied the young cavalier, faintly; "we have
changed stations since we met."

" You will find me ready," answered Albert Maurice, "to follow the
j:ood example you then set me, and to give you back freedom for the
freedom you then gave me."

Hugh de Mortmar shook his head mournfully, and cast his"eyes on
his stiff and rigid limbs, as if to express the impossibility of his accept-
ing the proffered liberation.

" Fear not, fear not !" said Albert Maurice, in reply to this mute
language. "Fear not ; in two or three days you will be able to use
four limbs as freely as ever, and I will find means to remove from
them all other thraldom."

"But my father," exclaimed Hugh de Mortmar. "Tell me, I be-
seech you, tell me! Is he safe? Is he unhurt?"

" Your father!" repeated Albert Maurice in some surprise — "your
father?"
" res, yes !" cried the prisoner, raising himself as well as he could

246 MARY OP BURGUNDY.

upon his arm, "my father, the Duke of Gueldres! Is he safe? Is
he unhurt? I struck him down before I knew him ; but I do not
think he was injured."

" No, no," replied the young citizen, " the duke is safe and welL
But this, indeed, is a strange tale. I do not comprehend you well, I
fear," he added; somewhat inclined to believe that the injuries the
prisoner had received had rendered him delirious. " Can the Duke
of Gueldres be your father? I never heard that he had more than
one child, who was slain, they say, by some of the cruel soldiers of
the late Duke of Burgundy's father, when Adolphus of Gueldres him-
self was taken near Namur. I remember all the circumstances; for
there was many an event occurred about that time which impressed
the whole story more deeply on my memory than other things that
have happened since. I was then a boy, travelling with my uncle
through the forest of Hannut, and we had been at Namur not three
days before."

" Ha! and were you that boy?" demanded the young cavalier. "I
remember you well. You fell into the hands of the free companions
with whom I then was, and were sent on safely by them, and by my
father's noble cousin, the Lord of Hannut. Mind you the boy who
joined you, with good Matthew Gournay, when you were sitting round
the freebooter's fire in the forest?"

"Well, perfectly well," replied Albert Maurice.

" Then, that was the son of Adolphus of Gueldres," rejoined the
prisoner, " escaped from the hands of the sworders of the Duke of
Burgundy, and flying to seek and find protection and concealment
with his father's cousin, the Lord of Hannut. Such was the boy, and
I am he."

"These things are very strange," said Albert Maurice; "and if
you knew all that I know, you would say so. Most strange, indeed!"
he muttered to himself, " that the bereaved father should become a
second parent to the son of him who made him childless. But let
your heart rest satisfied," he added aloud ; " your father is well and
safe ; and you have not even an unconscious crime to reproach your-
self with."

He spoke mournfully, and then fell into a deep, long fit of thought,
from which he was only roused by the young cavalier demanding,
whether the noble Lord of Imbercourt had been saved, after all?

What were the thoughts at that moment in the bosom of Albert
Maurice — whether his mind rested painfully on the consciousness that
he could no longer boast of a guiltless heart, and pondered, with all
the bitter, wringing agony of crime, upon the blessed sweetness of
innocence — can only be guessed ; but an involuntary groan burst
from the lips of the young citizen at the question of the prisoner,
and he clasped his hands upon his eyes.

Eemoving them an instant after, he answered, gazing somewhat
sternly upon his companion, " He died as he deserved."

Hugh of Gueldres replied not ; but, feeble as he was, returned the
item glance of Albert Maurice with one still more severe and re-
proachful. The young citizen recovered himself, however, at once,
banished the frown from his brow, and, for the moment, even stifled
the regret within his bosom. "Let us not speak, my lord," he said,
" on matters of painful discussion. The man you asked for, was tried

MARY OF BURGUNDT. 247

and condemned by lawful judges, upon what they considered suffi-
cient evidence. He suffered this morning according to his sentence.
Suffice it, that I had no personal hand either in his doom or execu-
tion."

"Thank God for that!" said Hugh de Mortmar; "for I do believe
that I should look upon even liberty as stained, if received from the
hands of one who, for envy or ambition, could do two such noble men
to death as died this day in Ghent."

The blood rushed violently up to the face and tonples of Albert
Maurice ; and, for a moment, he felt so giddy, that he started up, and
leaned against the wall for support. What he had said was true, in-
deed, to the letter; but conscience told him, that he was not only an
accessory, but a principal in the death of Imbercourt ; and, though he
had spoken the truth, he nevertheless felt that he had deceived.
There was again a bitter struggle in his bosom ; but it was soon over,
for the presence of another person shamed him into conquering the
upbraidings of his own heart.

" Let us say no more on that subject, my lord," he rejoined, as soon
as he had somewhat recovered his calmness. "It is a matter on
which you and I cannot, I fear, agree. I am bound, in justice to the
States of Flanders and the magistrates of Ghent, to say boldly, that 1
think they have done nobly, firmly, and well ; and though I took no
part in the act itself, yet the opinion of no man on earth will make
me shrink from avowing, that I would have done the same. But all
this has nothing to do with the feelings between you and me. Suffice
it, that I owe you a deep debt of gratitude, which I am ready and wil-
ling to pay. You shall be instantly removed from this dungeon to a
more convenient chamber, where you shall be tended with all care,
till such time as you have recovered strength. If you will, your
existence and your situation shall be immediately communicated to
the Duke of Gueldres. But still, I think "

" No, no," answered the prisoner, quickly ; " no, no ; if there be
any other means whatever of obtaining my freedom, without reveal-
ing who I am, let me still remain concealed for a certain space. I
know not well whether the news of my existence might, or might not
be well received. There are new plans and views abroad, I find, with
which my appearance might interfere. My father, I hear, aims at
the hand of the heiress of Burgundy."

A scornful smile curled the lip of Albert Maurice, while the other
proceeded: — "And I know not how he might love to hear, that a sou
he has believed to be dead for twenty years, had now arisen to cum-
ber his inheritance. Let us pause for a time, and see. Nor, indeed,
would I willingly be found a prisoner."

"I think you judge rightly, my lord," replied the young citizen;
* though the Duke of Gueldres will never marry Mary of Burgundy.
But, as to your freedom," he added, cutting short something that the
prisoner was about to reply, " for that I will pledge my life ; and,
■when once more beyond, the walls of Ghent, you can act as you will
in regard to discovering yourself."

The motives of Hugh of Gueldres for wishing to conceal his exist-
ence from his father for some time longer were certainly those which
he had stated ; but perhaps he might also be influenced by another
feeling. In mingling with men who knew liim not for what lie was,

248 MARY OF BTJRGCNDY.

the name of his father had never reached his ears, but coupled with
some opprobrious epithet, or in conjunction with some evil deed; and
perhaps a lingering disinclination to claim kindred with such a man,
might make him still glad to leave his station unacknowledged to the
world.

Some farther conversation then ensued between the President of
Ghent and the son of the Duke of Gueldres ; and though Albert Mau«
rice became often thoughtful and abstracted, though there was s
varying and uncertain tone in everything he said, unlike his usual
calm and dignified manner; yet, from the nature of the subjects to
which they now both restricted themselves, there was something sweet
and pleasing in the commune which they indulged. They spoke of the
early days in which they had first met, of the times, and the scenes,
and the pleasures, and the hopes of other years ; and a kindly sym-
pathy breathing from the past, made for them, even in the prison,
and separate as they were by state, by station, by education, and by
prejudices, a peculiar atmosphere in which they seemed to live alone.
Hugh de Mortmar felt it strongly, and seemed to revive under its in-
fluence. His voice became firmer, and his eye regained its light.

" And what," said Albert Maurice, after they had conversed some
time on the scenes in the forest of Hannut — " and what has become
of that good stout soldier, Matthew Gournay, who was, in some sort,
a friend of my worthy uncle, Martin Fruse."

" He was with me, this day, in Ghent," replied the prisoner; "and
I trust in God has escaped beyond the gates. Many a time also has
he been the means by which I have communicated to you, through
your uncle, those proceedings which I thought it necessary that you
should know. Once, not a month since, he was within the walls of
Ghent ; but could not obtain a private interview with you. Thus it
was that you received tidings of the march of the base King of France.
Thus, of the coming of his barber ambassador. Thus, too, did I send
you a copy of that degraded slave's instructions.

" Then I owe you far more than I ever dreamed of," replied the
young citizen, " and I will peril my life but I will repay it. Neverthe-
less," he added, after a moment's thought, in which suspicions, vague
indeed, but strong, of the motives and designs of the druggist Ganay,
rose up before his mind ; " nevertheless, although for the time I am
powerful in the city, yet several days must elapse ere you can mount
a horse. I have many enemies, too — many false friends — many dan-
gerous rivals ; and I would fain place your security beyond the chance
of anything that may happen to myself. Think you,' he added,
musing, "that Matthew Gournay, with twenty of his picked conv
panions, would venture once more within the gates of Ghent, and,
habited like followers of my own, be ready to aid in your deliverance,
whether I be alive or dead."

"If he have escaped, ' replied the prisoner, "he would come at my
bidding, were it into the jaws of hell. But you must make me certain
of his safety, Sir Citizen."

" That he has escaped, rest assured," replied Albert Maurice ; " for
no one but yourself was taken : and as for his future security," he
added with a smile, " what object think you I could have in shortening
an old man's days?"

A bitter reply rose in the heart of the young cavalier, as he thought

MAHT OP BUKGUNDX 249

of the unhappy Lord of Imbercourt ; but he felt it would be ungene-
rous to give it utterance, and he refrained.

" I trust you, sir !" he replied ; "I saved you at a moment when you
were an oppressed and injured man ; and to doubt you now, in such a
case, would be a kind of blasphemy against the God who made the
human heart. Take this ring and send it by some sure messenger —
a young boy, perchance, were best, though I do not think they would
maltreat any one but an open enemy — but send it by some page, in a
small skiff, down the Scheldt, at two hours after dusk. The boat will
undoubtedly be stopped ; and let the page give the ring to Matthew
Gournay, whom he will find in the woods between this and Heusden,
if he escaped unhurt from Ghent. Let the boy add a message, bidding
him, in my name, render himself, with twenty of his comrades, to the
house of good Martin Fruse, at any hour that you may appoint. Pear
not that he will meet you, and then take counsel with him as you may
think fit."

Some more explanations ensued ; but as Albert Maurice perceived
that the prisoner was exhausted with so long a conversation, he soon
after bade him farewell, and left him. " For two days," he said, as he
turned to depart, " in all probability, I shall not visit you ; for it may
be well not to excite any suspicion of my design. But you shall be
watched carefully night and day, that no foul practice be employed
against you ; and at the end of the third day I trust to find you well
enough to bear at least a short walk to the river side. In the mean-
time, as they have deprived you of your arms, for greater security
take this ;" and ho placed in Ms hands a broad double-edged Vene-
tian poniard, adding, " fear not to use it, should any one attempt to
injure you ; for if they do, the means they employ must be of that kind
which does not court examination ; and now, once more, farewell!"

The young citizen then retired ; and though the more kindly and
noble feelings which his conversation with Hugh of Gueldres had
awakened — feelings untainted by the world's ambition or its policy —
could not; it is true, stifle entirely the cry of remorse ; yet there had
been a balm in it all, that sent him forth soothed and softened. He
retired not to his chamber till he had given orders that care and
attendance should be shown to the prisoner, and that he should be re-
moved to a better chamber ; but when, at length, he cast himself upon
his bed, fatigue, and the feeling that his heart was not all bitterness,
brought sleep, though it was disturbed ; and he woke not till the dawn
looked in, and roused him from slumber.

Already, when he rose, the first poignancy of regret was gone ; and
the wound in his heart had grown stiff and numb. The voice of self-
love was more ready to plead extenuation ; and hope, always far more
potent than memory, told him that mighty things might yet be derived,
for love and for his country, from the very deeds he so deeply
regretted. At all events, policy whispered that he must not let the
moments slip ; and, though the immortal worm, remorse, was still
slowly preying on his heart, he rose prepared to forget the pang, in all
the active energy of watchful policy and great ambition.

Even while he was dressing, messenger after messenger, from dif-
ferent parts of the country, bearing news, not alone of the movements
of friends and enemies, but also of the preparations which he himself
had been labouring to complete, was admitted to his presence. After

230 MARY OF BUBGUNDY.

collecting the tidings that each one bore him, with a minute memory
that never failed, and arranging every particular in his own mind
with that methodical accuracy which rendered the whole available at
a moment's notice, he descended early to the hall, where he expected
soon to meet many envious and suspicious visiters, feeling that he pos-
sessed a store of ready information on every subject, which he knew
must confound and overbear them all.

Strange to say — or, perhaps, not strange at all — the state of painful
irritation which he now suffered, appeared to render all the faculties of
his mind more acute and powerful. Naturally energetic, he had ac-
quired a new degree of energy from the necessity of withdrawing all
his thoughts from the past, and fixing them on the present or the
future ; and his comprehension of the most confused narrative seemed
more clear, his orders to the most stupid messenger more precise, than
ever they had been in the whole course of his public career.

An assembly of all the deputies from Flanders and Brabant had
been appointed for that day ; but during the morning a number of
persons crowded the great hall in a desultory manner, long before any
general meeting of the states took place ; and amongst the first that
appeared was Maillotin du Bac, with an air which expressed both a
knowledge that he had overstepped his authority, and a determination
to resist every effort to curb his nearly gratified revenge.

At another moment, Albert Maurice might have alone despised him,
and crushed him beneath his feet as a mere worm ; but he well knew
that great power often trips at a small obstacle. He felt, too, that the
height he had reached was a giddy one ; and that he might require to
stand some time on the dizzy pinnacle of power, in order to acquire
that firmness of footing which alone could justify him in despising
inferior enemies. His very elevation offended many ; and, seeing that
the contention must soon commence between himself and the Duke of
Gueldres on the one hand, and the Duke of Cleves on the other, he
determined to leave the way unencumbered by any minor difficulties.
Not that he proposed for a moment to abandon his purpose towards
the prisoner he had left the night before : but he resolved to free him
by quiet policy more than by bold and sweeping power.

" Sir Prevot," he said, as soon as their first salutation had passed,
"you did wrong last night in placing a sentry within the walls of the
municipal prison ; and also somewhat harshly in confining an untried
prisoner in one of the lower dungeons. Hear me, sir, to the end," he
added, seeing the other about to make some dogged reply : " I have
no intention of bringing the matter of your boldness before the coun-
cil, as I might have done; but the thing must not be repeated.
Should any like event arise again, I will take care the magistracy of
Ghent shall examine strictly what punishment is to be inflicted on
those who have frequently dared to infringe their privileges ! Mark
me, and remember ! for I will not pass it over a second time. Now,
then, before the states assemble, take one of my officers and visit the
prisoner. See whether he is able to undergo an examination to-day,
and make me your report."

The Prevot was very glad to avoid any collision with the eschevins
of Ghent, and at the same time to see a fair prospect of his revenge
being accomplished; but, as it was far from the wish of Maillotin du
Bac that his prisoner should be examined before the states at all, lie

MARY OF BURGUNDY. 251

instantly determined to report him as much too ill to meet the pro-
posed investigation.

At the same time, there was something in the demeanour of the
young citizen that surprised him. As men of shrewd but mean minds
sometimes are, in their estimation of nobler characters, he was gene-
rally right in his appreciation of Albert Maurice, and usually perceived
the great object that the President was likely to seek in any particular
contingency, without, however, at all comprehending the inferior
means he would employ to accomplish his purpose. So much the con-
trary, indeed, that after having judged correctly of the ultimate
design, he would often become puzzled and doubtful in regard to the
accuracy of his judgment even on that point, because the course pur-
sued by the young citizen was almost always totally different from
the method which he himself would have followed in order to arrive
at the same object, and totally opposed to all the axioms of his own
meaner policy.

Thus, in the present instance, he had sought the town-hall so early,
under the perfect conviction that the President of Ghent would attempt
to liberate the man who had before given him his freedom ; believing
at the same time, that the consciousness of such a purpose would
cause the aspiring citizen to avoid the subject, or to speak darkly upon
his own views. But the bold and proud manner in which Albert
Maurice rebuked his assumption of power in the town prison, and
spoke of the immediate examination of the prisoner, shook his convic-
tion, and also made him believe that the same stern and uncompro-
mising policy which had been pursued towards Hugonet and Imber-
court would be followed throughout, without regard to any other
feeling than selfish ambition.

The scenes which he soon witnessed tended to confirm this opinion ;
and led him, however falsely, to believe that Albert Maurice forgot
every gentler and nobler feeling, every generous tie and private affec-
tion, in the overpowering impulse of an aspiring heart. Scarcely had
the order proceeded from the lips of the young citizen to inspect the
condition of the prisoner, ere two or three members of the states en-
tered the hall. Several others followed within a very short interval ;
and as soon as Albert Maurice perceived that a sufficient number
were assembled to justify the discussion of important matters, he de-
clared the appointed hour fully arrived, called them to consultation,
and at once boldly proposed that a decree of banishment— drawn up
in the name of the states general of Flanders, though not ten mem-
bers of that body were present, and those wholly devoted to his own
views — should be issued against the Lord of Eavestein, and the
Dowager Duchess of Burgundy, as parties to the plot for subjecting
the country to the sway of France.

So bold a measure was not, of course, without an object of deep
moment to him who proposed it ; but, when it is remembered, that
Eavestein and Margaret of York were the only influential members
of what was called in Ghent the French party, who now remained
with the princess, his motives will be clear enough ; for it was that
party only which Albert Maurice feared. The Duke of Gueldres,
though dangerous from the popularity he had suddenly acquired, the
young citizen thought himself strong enough to overthrow when he
pleased, supported, as he was sure of being in such a case, by the Duka

2S2 MABT OP BURGUNDY.

of Cleves, and by the manifest abhorrence which the princess displayed
towards the brutal aspirant to her hand ; and the Duke of Cleves
himself, the President felt sure, was too weak to succeed without his
aid. Thus the French party was the only obstacle to his views that
he really dreaded ; but still, the measure he counselled was too bold
to pass without some debate.

It was carried, however, at length, before any one arrived who had
sufficient influence to oppose it with vigour ; and the order tor the
instant removal of the Dowager Duchess and the Lord of Eavestein
was sent at once to the palace, enforced by a large body of the
burgher guard.

Gradually the assembly increased, till about forty persons were
gathered round the council table, while a number of others, unentitled
to a seat amongst the deliberative body, filled the vacant places of the
hall, by the favour of the President's adherents. He himself was,
perhaps, not unaware that a multitude of voices, ready to applaud his
words, were collected around him ; for the noblest, ay, and the
proudest, heart will bend servilely to the senseless shout it despises,
when once it has bound itself as a serf in the golden collar of ambi-
tion. At length, after casting his eye around, to see who were the
members of the states assembled, Albert Maurice rose to speak ; but
as he did so, the trampling of horse coming at a rapid rate, and loud
shouts of " Long live the Duke of Gueldres! Health to the noble
duke and the fair princess ! Long life to Ghent and the Duke of
Gueldres !" were heard rising from the square below ; and the young
citizen again sat down, with a contracted brow and quivering lip.

In a few moments the Duke of Gueldres entered the hall, and
took his seat on the right of the President, who knew the informal
constitution of their whole assembly too well, to object to that noble's
intrusion on their councils. But the young citizen rose again imme-
diately himself, and at once addressed the states, as they termed
themselves, in a speech full of fire and energy. He pointed out that
the time was now come, when active and combined exertion through-
out the whole land was necessary to save it from the usurpation of
Prance, when not only the safety, but the very existence of the coun-
try required the energy of every individual to be employed, without a
moment's delay, for the benefit of the whole ; and he touched elo-
quently upon the necessity of laying aside all private jealousies, dis-
putes, and feuds, in order to concentrate all efforts to check the rapid
progress of the French monarch. Of many dangers, he said, it was of
course necessary to meet that which was most imminent, and no one
would doubt for a moment that the usurping and successful arms of
France presented the peril they had most to dread. Severe measures
had been pursued, he said, to show the timid and the traitor that they
could not betray their country with impunity; and it became the
states of Flanders and Brabant, even as a consequence of many of
their late acts, to prove to their countrymen that they could and
would protect the honest and the patriotic, as well as punish the guilty
and the disloyal. It was time, he added to lay aside all differences of
opinion, to forget individual interests and passions, to cast away every
thought but patriotism, and calling forth the whole intelligence and
the whole strength of the state, to join heart and hand, and mind and
energy, in defence of their violated rights and their insulted tountry.

MARY OFBCRGUX.U7. 253

He spoke with the most powerful oratory, and he spoke true ; but
he did not remember that the oil of smooth words will never allay the
raging waves of faction, even though the storm of anarchy threaten to
wreck the state itself. Had he looked into his own heart, indeed, and
seen that, though he was now anxious to repel the common enemy,
yet it was but in order to seize one quiet moment to overthrow his
rivals, he would have learned the secret of every bosom around him,
and found that selfish ambition was the whole.

In the midst of his speech, however, while, in the very vehemence
of declamation, he was inveighing against France, and was about to
proceed, from the general terms which he had been using, to a clear
and minute view of the state of the land, and the measures imme-
diately necessary for its defence, one of the deputies from some
inferior town, who believed the moment for distinguishing his own
small knowledge and talents was arrived, rose, and boldly cut across-
the President's speech, exclaiming, " Perhaps the noble President does
not know the unhappy news "

"I know all!" thundered Albert Maurice, his eyes lightning wittt
indignation at the interruption. " God of Heaven ! wherefore do I
hold the station that I do, if it be not to learn, and know, and investi-
gate all that may concern the interest of the state ? Do I not know
that Arras has fallen? that Tournay is now in the hands of th©
*nemy ? — that Hesdin, and Boulogne, and Bethune are taken ? — that
Oudardhas been murdered? — that Descordes is false? — that Vergy
lies in chains? Do I not know that the duchy of Burgundy is in-
vaded ; that Franche-Compte is overrun ; and that the troops of Louis
are advancing to the gates of Ghent ? What is it that I do not know,
that any one should dare to interrupt me ? Let me tell the deputy
who has just sat down, that, if he had all the miserable catalogue of
the woes and dangers of his country, from the first infraction of her
frontiers, to the last base or mean, or murderous act of her great
enemy, so much by heart as I have, he would turn every thought of
his mind to find means of meeting the perils that menace us, rather
than break through the order of this assembly by speaking before he
has heard."

The vehemence with which the young citizen spoke, the picture ot
overwhelming misfortunes which he displayed, and the deep tone of
patriotic anxiety which his words breathed forth, combined to make
his hearers forget the angry bitterness with which he rebuked one of
their members, and each turned and gazed, with an expression of
terror, in the faces of the others, as the President counted over the
rapid losses and misfortunes of their country.

Albert Maurice paused, and Ganay, who was present, remarked,
without rising, " Something must be immediately done to remedy all
this. Or, doubtless," he added, not unwilling to bring about some
imputation of blame upon Albert Maurice for neglect, though unwilling-
to utter one word of blame himself, "or, doubtless, our noble President
has already, with his usual activity, prepared some means of meeting
all these difficulties."

"I have!" replied Albert Maurice, sternly; and, as he did so, a
slight curl of the lip conveyed to the druggist a suspicion that his
purpose had been understood. " I have ! The difficulty can only be
met, the enemy can only be opposed in arms, and the means have

254 MAKY OF BUHGUNDT.

been prepared. Seven thousand men have been raised and trained in
Ghent, as you all know. Three thousand men are ready to march in
the villages round about. Before noon, five thousand more will be in
the city from Ypres, and, ere night, five thousand more will have a?
rived from Bruges ; while Brabant and the other provinces are pre-
paring an army of forty thousand men besides. Our power is thus
already sufficient to keep the towns cf Flanders against the King of
France, while forces are marching up to our aid, which will soon ena-
ble us to expel him from our land for ever. Provisions for forty days
have been prepared, and a magazine of arms is already established at
Oudenarde, which is garrisoned by a sufficient force to ensure it from
capture. We have still a line of fortified places, which we can soon
render secure ; and having done so, we can bid the tyrant either retire
from our borders, or let his soldiers rot in the field till we reap them
with the sword, instead of that harvest which they have mowed ere it
was ripe."

A loud and long burst of applause followed this recapitulation of
the means which, by the most extraordinary activity, he had collected
in so short a space of time to repel the arms of France; and, satisfied
with the impression that he had made, Albert Maurice sat down, in
order to allow one of the deputies from Ypres to propose a plan of
action, which had been previously laid out between them, for the em-
ployment of the forces thus raised to the general advantage of Flan-
ders. The worthy burgher, however, though a man of sense, and
some military skill, having served during a considerable time with
the people of his commune under the Duke Philip, was always an
unwilling speaker, and paused for a moment to collect his ideas after
the President had sat down.

The Duke of Gueldres instantly seized the occasion, and, anxious
to gain the command of the army, proposed to lead it himself against
the suburbs of Tournay, together with five hundred men-at-arms
which he had raised since his liberation. " The very appearance of
such a force in the field," he said, "and led on to some rapid and
brilliant expedition, would make Louis XI. who had been well called
Le Roi Couard, pause and hesitate, while fresh reinforcements might
come up to swell the army of Flanders, and enable it either to risk
a general battle, or attempt the re-capture of the towns which had
been taken."

To this proposal Albert Maurice strongly objected, and declared
that, instead of encountering any further risk than that inevitable in
leading a raw and inexperienced army through a difficult country,
they ought to make it their chief object to strengthen the garrisons
of all the many fortified towns they still possessed, but more espe-
cially to throw a considerable force into Lille and Douai, which still
held out for the princess, and were plentifully supplied with provi-
sions, but whose respective garrisons were too small to retard the
progress of Louis for three days, whenever he should lead his armies
against them. In support of this opinion, he showed that troops
hastily levied, and unaccustomed to warfare, were much more likely
to serve well when defended by stone walls, and commanded by ex-
perienced officers, than in the open field against a veteran army.
He showed, also, that Tournay itself was not likely long to hold out
for France, if Lille and Douai were properly garrisoned with num-

»ABY Or BUECUNDT. 255

bent sufficient to sweep the whole neighbouring country of provi-
sions ; and he ended by calling upon the states not to be dazzled
by the apparent ease of the enterprise proposed by the Duke of
Gueldres, for he could assure them that it was the best maxim, both
in tactics and policy, never to believe anything impossible, but never
to fancy anything easy.

The countenance of the Duke of Gueldres flushed with wrath, to
hear himself so boldly opposed by a simple citizen of Ghent, and he
was about to reply with hasty vehemence, which would infallibly
have ruined all his own designs, had not Ganay started up, and, with
all the smooth and plausible art of which he was master, sketched
out a plan, which, while it seemed to coincide with that of Albert
Maurice, rendered it nearly nugatory, and, at the same time, coin-
cided exactly with that of the Duke of Gueldres.

"The infinite wisdom and skill," he said, "which have been dis-
played, under all circumstances, by our noble President, should make
us receive his opinion with reverence and respect, even were it not
evidently founded in knowledge and experience. There can be no
doubt, however, in the minds of any one here present, that the pre-
servation of Lille and Douai is absolutely necessary for the security
of Flanders, and may also greatly tend to facilitate the very objects
proposed by the noble Duke of Gueldres. But the two plans are by
no means incompatible. Neither Lille nor Douai can admit of a gar-
rison of more than two thousand men in addition to that with which
they are at present furnished. Twelve or thirteen thousand men
will be quite sufficient to enable the noble duke to make his attempt
upon Tournay. Let then the President himself, whose military skill
we all witnessed, when he served with the men of Ghent under the
late Duke Charles, some five or six years ago ; let him then lead five
thousand men to the aid of Lille and Douai; and, having thrown
what force into those places he may find necessary, return with the
rest to Ghent; while, in the meantime, the duke marches forth
against Tournay with the rest of the troops which we can spare from
the defence of this city."

The feelings which this speech excited in the mind of Albert Mau-
rice were of a very mixed and intricate nature. By this time, from
many of those slight and accidental indications by which a skilful
observer may read the changes of the human heart, the young
burgher had learned that Ganay was no longer the zealous friend he
had been, and he felt, rather than remarked, that, with that dark and
subtle being there could be no medium between active support and
deadly opposition, circumstanced as they were and had been. With
this conviction impressed upon his mind, perhaps he might see, or at
least suspect, that one object in the proposal of the druggist was to
obtain his absence from the city. He might see, too, that the com-
mand of a large portion of the army given to the Duke of Gueldres,
whose military abilities were well known, would throw immense
power into the hands of that prince, becoming already too powerful ;
and he likewise knew the general dangers attendant upon the absence
of a political leader too well, not to dread the consequences of his own
departure from Ghent at a moment so critical.

Nevertheless, one of his chief weaknesses was the ambition of mili-
tary renown ; and that ambition had received an impulse which it

256 MABY OF BURGUNDY.

had never known before, since he had dared to raise his hopes to ft
princess descended from a race of heroes. He felt, too, within him-
self, great powers of the kind immediately required, and he trusted
that, by the exertion of that energetic activity which characterized
all his movements, he should be enabled to accomplish his enterpise —
to add, perhaps, some brilliant exploits to all that he had already
performed and to return to Ghent before any great advantage could
be taken of his absence by his enemies.

An immediate reply, however, was necessary, and long discussions
ensued, in the course of which Albert Maurice did not absolutely op-
pose the scheme of Ganay ; yet there were in the details so many
nice and delicate points to be determined, that much angry and
vehement dispute took place, in which the violent and overbearing
temper of the Duke of Gueldres more than once broke forth, and
was repressed by the young citizen, in his capacity of President of
the states, with a stern severity, that left them both, with flushed
cheeks and frowning brows, gazing upon each other when the meet-
ing of the states broke up.

By this time all was determined. Albert Maurice had accepted
the command, with the understanding that it was totally distinct and
independent of the one conferred upon the Duke of Gueldres, that
the troops were solely under his own orders, and that the moment
he had performed the specific task he undertook, he was at liberty
to return to Ghent. All this had been conceded. The populace
quitted the hall, and the deputies, one by one, took their leave and
retired.

The Duke of Gueldres was among the last that left the apartment,
and it was with a slow step he descended the stairs nearly to the
bottom, biting his lip with ill-repressed passion at the contradiction
he had met with, and at the little reverence that the President of
Ghent had shown either to his opinions or to his rank. His medita-
tions did not serve to cool him ; on the contrary, at every step the
words which had been addressed to him, and the scene in which they
had been spoken, recurred with more and more bitterness to his mind;
and when he had reached the last step but two, passion, as it often did
with him, got the better of all command, and stamping on the ground
with his foot, as he remembered the contemptuous curl of the young
citizen's lip, he turned, and mounting the stairs with wide strides,
once more entered the hall.

Albert Maurice was standing alone at the head of the table, with a
countenance of deep melancholy, from which every expression of
anger and scorn was now totally banished. He raised his eyes as the
duke entered, and gazed upon him with surprise, as advancing close
to him, with flashing eyes and a burning cheek, that rude prince ex-
claimed, "You have dared, sir — villain and slave as you are, base
mechanical hind, bred and born amongst looms and shuttles — you
have dared to treat with disrespect a noble of the land, and, by
Heaven ! you shall some day pay for it. Were you not as the dirt
beneath my feet, and would not your vile blood sully my sword to
shed it, I would save the hangman the pains he may some day have,
and punish you where you stand."

" Know, Duke of Gueldres," replied Albert Maurice, with calm
eternness, though in other days he might have laughed at the intern-

MAIli OF BURGUNDY. 257

perate insolence of his adversary — " Know, Duke of Gueldres, that
were there anything in the empty assumption of blood, mine is
descended from as pure a stock as your own, though one of my an-
cestors wisely and nobly chose to embrace an honourable trade rather
than follow the example of such as you and yours, and live by rapine,
plunder, oppression, and wrong. Advance not your hand towards
me, Sir Duke, for remember that insult levels all distinctions ; and
that I, too, wear a sword, which I should not scruple to dye in nobler
blood than that of the Duke of Gueldres, if he laid but a finger
upon me."

" Out, slave !" cried the Duke ; "I will take thy boasted descent
on credit, were it but to punish thine insolence !" and striking the
young citizen a violent blow on the breast, he threw back his mantle
and drew his sword.

Albert Maurice was not slack to meet him, and his sword was also
in his hand, when a number of citizens who had heard, through the
open doors, the high words which had lately passed, ran in and beat
up their weapons. The Duke of Gueldres glared round him for a
moment in vain fury, then thrust back his sword into its scabbard,
and shaking his clenched hand towards the young citizen, exclaimed,
" When next we meet!" and, turning on his heel, left the apartment.

Albert Maurice sheathed his weapon also, and only commenting on
what had passed by a contemptuous smile, resumed his look of grave
thought, and proceeded calmly to transact the business of his station.

CHAPTER XXXH.

The Duke of Gueldres, however, was still to enjoy a triumph before
he returned to his dwelling, which, could he have seen into the heart
of his rival, would have fully compensated all the pain which his
anger had inflicted on himself. Albert Maurice was left alone ; but
there was a shout in the market-place without, which rang painfully
on his ears, as he turned from the great hall ; for he could not avoid
hearing the loud voice of the multitude, cheering the Duke of Guel-
dres as he mounted his horse.

The sounds were distinct enough ; and to him bitter enough, also.
They were " Long live the Duke of Gueldres and the Princess!
Gueldres and Burgundy for ever ! We will give her to whom we
like ! She shall marry the good Duke ! Long life to the noble Duke
of Gueldres!" and though, as that prince rode on, the words were no
longer to be distinguished, the cries still continued, and the fancy of
the young citizen furnished each brawling shout with articulate
sounds of the character most inimical to his own peace.

"Ere I go," he thought — "ere I go, I will see her myself; and
assure myself of her feelings before I quit the city. Then, if I find
that she hates him, as I believe, that she looks upon him as the wolf
he really is, I will take sufficient means to guard her from his impor-
tunities during my absence."

The determination was no sooner formed than he prepared to exe-
cute it ; and, while he despatched a messenger to the palace to
demand an audience of the princess previous to his departure, which
was fixed for the next day, he gave a multitude of necessary orders.

251) MARY OP BUKGUNDT.

and as soon as his horse was ready, set out himself to seek an i^er'
view, which the consciousness of having brought about the death ot
Mary's counsellors, and the banishment of her friends, made him
dread even while he courted it.

But, as those who are young in deceit generally do, he forgot, for
the time, that the dark secrets of his heart were confined to his own
bosom ; and that the policy he had pursued, and the bold ambition
that prompted it, were unknown to her who had most suffered by it.
In truth, the feelings of Mary were very different from those which
he had anticipated. The broad and simple facts had only reached her
ear. She knew that the young citizen had taken no part in the trial
or the judgment of Imbercourt, and that he had not even been pre-
sent at his execution. The order for the immediate removal of the
Duchess Dowager and Eavestein, also, had been issued in the name
of the states : and perfectly unconscious of the wild hopes and am-
bitious dreams of Albert Maurice, she believed that if he had at all
mingled in those proceedings, it was but most unwillingly, and from
a strong, though mistaken impression of duty and patriotism. De-
prived, too, of the counsellors in whom she had always most trusted,
and of the friends whom she had most loved, the unhappy girl felt
inclined to cling to any one who seemed disposed to treat her with
kindness and tenderness ; and the only one who remained was Albert
Maurice. He had always been gentle ; he had always seemed to ad-
vocate her interest ; he had never asked her for gift, or honour, or
diunity ; and even his very animosity towards Imbercourt and the
Chancellor, had first arisen in the support which he gave to the prin-
cess, in her reluctant struggles against the hard and painful policy
her ministers had dictated. The dignity of his demeanour, the high
qualities of his mind, the independence of his character, and the appa-
rent disinterestedness of his conduct, had gained her esteem ; and
the respectful gentleness of his manners towards herself, as well as
his constant and zealous advocacy of the line of policy dictated by
her wishes as a woman, had won her gratitude and her confidence.

A gleam of pleasure brightened the gloom around her when she
heard that he was coming ; and, in order at once to attach him more
strongly to her interests, to express her thanks for his supposed ser-
vices, and to detach him totally from the burgher faction, whose influ-
ence had already worked so much evil, she directed one of the officers
of the palace to draw up, immediately, letters of nobility in favour of
the young citizen, and to bring them to her with all speed. Gentle
by nature and by habit, the only arms which Mary ever employed
against her rebellious subjects were favours and mildness, and she
fondly fancied, that, in this step towards Albert Maurice, she had
devised a deep stroke of policy. The secretary's task was almost
completed when Albert Maurice arrived ; and the evident pleasure
with which Mary received him, in the midst ot all her griefs, extin-
guished for the time remorse and apprehension in the blaze of hope
and joy, and once more nerved him for the bold career of ambition in
which he had started against such fearful odds.

The princess was pale and shaken with all the agitation, terror,
and grief of the day before ; but the light that shone up in her eyes
and the smile which played about her lips as he approached, made her
appear a thousand times more lovely in the eyes of the young burgher.

IflAHY OF BURCUNDT. 259

than she would have seemed in all the pride of state, security, and
happiness. In the unconscious simplicity of heart, too, all her words
gave encouragement to feelings that she little dreamed of ; and when,
on the announcement of his approaching departure, she pressed him
to stay, and to abandon his design ; when she assured him that he
was the only one she could now trust, since her faithful servants had
been put to death and her kindred had been banished, and beseeched
him not to leave her without a counsellor, or without a friend, Albert
Maurice knowing the passions that animated his own bosom, could
not but hope that in some degree she saw them too ; and, while habi-
tual respect cast a deep reverence over all his words and actions,
which served to deceive her as to his feelings, his love and his ambi-
tion caught a new fire from the confiding esteem which she expressed
towards him. He assured her that in six days he would be once
more in Ghent; and he hoped, he said, to lay some laurels at her feet.
In the meantime, he added, it might be necessary to think of her
security against all intrusion.

" Oh, for the love of heaven, provide for that !" exclaimed the
princess ; " I fear that base, that dreadful Duke of Gueldres. Even
the shelter of my own apartments is no security against him; and
his influence with the people, they tell me, is becoming fearfully
great. Speak, Margaret," she added, turning to one of her atten-
dants, " what was it you heard the people crying but now ?"

" Fear not, your Grace," replied Albert Maurice, without waiting
to hear from the princess's lady a repetition of words which had already
made his blood boil. The career of the Duke of Gueldres draws to-
wards its end ! If I judge rightly, his own ambition will be a
stumbling-block sufficient to bring his speedy overthrow. But if not,
sooner than you should suffer from insolent daring, he shall find that
Albert Maurice does not wear a sword in vain."

"Oh, use it not against him, sir," replied the princess; "there may
be other ways of ridding the city of his presence. Too much blood
has been shed already. Nay, do not look sad, Lord President. I
know that it was without your will. I know that you were not even
present. But while you are absent from the city, if your absence be
unavoidable, I beseech you to take measures to guard me against his
intrusion. When you return," she added, with a deep crimson blush,
which rose from feelings that would have damned all the young citi-
zen's presumptuous hopes for ever, could he have divined them —
" when you return, I would fain speak with you on taking such mea-
sures for the defence of the state as may obtain for it permanent
security. A woman's hand, I see, cannot hold the reins of such a
land as that which I am unhappily called to govern ; and it is time
for me to yield them to some one who can better guide the state
than I can. But more of this hereafter. We will not speak more now."

The heart of the young citizen throbbed as if it would have burst,
but it throbbed with joy ; and probably he might have replied, not-
withstanding the prohibition of the princess, in such a manner as
would have ended the delusion of both ; but, at that moment, ac-
cording to the orders he had received, the secretary of the chancery
t,f Burgundy brought in the letters-patent which lie had been draw-
ing up in haste.

The princess presented them to him for whom they were destined

260 mahy or buegundt.

■with her own hand, leaving him at liberty to make them public, o?
to preserve them unemployed, till such time as he should think fit:
and while she gave them, she added her thanks for his obedience to
the wishes she had expressed when last they met. Though the sub-
ject was too painful for the princess even to mention the name of
the two faithful servants she had lost, yet Albert Maurice felt that
she alluded to her petitions in their behalf. For a single instant he
thought she spoke in irony, and his cheek turned red and pale by
turns; but a moment's reflection called to his mind the simple, candid
character of her who spoke, and what she had before said on the same
subject; and he saw that she deceived herself in regard to the part
he had taken. There was a natural rectitude in his heart which
might have made him, at any risk, avow boldly his approval of, if not
his participation in, the bloodshed which had been committed — had
the love of Mary of Burgundy not been at stake. But he who knew
not what fear is, under other circumstances, had learned to become
as timid as a child in her presence ; and though, while kneeling to
kiss her hand in thanks for the honour she had just conferred, his
whole frame trembled both with the agitation of deep love, and the
knowledge that he was acting a deceitful part, yet he found it impos-
sible to utter those words which he well knew would have pronounced
his own condemnation to the ears of Mary of Burgundy.

The sensation, however, oppressed hitn; and, after hurried and
somewhat incoherent thanks, he took his leave, feeling that he had
made another step in the crooked and degrading path of policy.

The rest of the day was consumed in preparations for his departure
larly the next morning, and in precautions against the influence of
Ais enemies in Ghent. Men may make use of knaves and hypocrites,
in order to rise, but they must still have recourse to the honest and
the true, when they would give permanance to their authority. Thus,
from the council which Albert Maurice now called to his aid, Ganay
was excluded, as well as all the fiercer and more subtle spirits, which
had hitherto been so busy in the affairs of Ghent; while honest Martin
Fruse, and seven other citizens like himself, who, though not with-
out their weaknesses and their follies, possessed at heart a fund of
honesty of intent and plain common sense, were summoned by the
young citizen to a private conference, for the purpose of taking such
measures as would secure the peace and tranquillity of the city, and
the stability of the order of things established, during his temporary
absence.

He felt it difficult, indeed, to explain to them all the evils that
were to be guarded against, all the dangers that he foresaw, and all
the apprehensions that he entertained, especially in regard to the
druggist Ganay. To have done so fully, would have been to have
exposed all the darker and more dangerous secrets of his own bosom,
and to have given a picture of himself, of the means he had employed,
and of the deeds into which he had been betrayed, which he was
unwilling to display to any human being. Thus it was not without
much circumlocution that he could find words to convey his immediate
views to the honest men by whom he was surrounded, and yet keep
to those general terms which might not expose himself.

Martin Fruse, however, whose love for his nephew was paramount
«0 his bosom, greatly relieved the task ; for — with a sort of intuitive

MAKY O? BUKGCNDT. 261

feeling, that there were many things which Albert Maurice 'would
wish to keep concealed, and from a desire of sparing him as much as
possible — he passed as rapidly as his intellect would permit him to
conclusions, skipping as quickly as possible over all explanations
regarding preceding facts with a nod or smile of intelligence, which
led the other worthy merchants to believe that he was fully acquainted
with all the machinery of the events which had taken place. After
some hours' consultation, it was arranged that Albert Maurice,
deputing his whole municipal authority to his uncle, should entrust
the worthy citizen and the other merchants present, to form such a
party in the council, as might keep the affairs of the town, if possible,
in a completely passive state during his absence. His office in the
states general he could not transfer; for though he held the presi-
dency of that body, as a privilege connected with its assembling in
the city of which he had been constituted chief magistrate, yet that
privilege could not be deputed to another; and the states — if they
met at all during his absence — would be presided over by the next
deputy from the city of Ghent.

The power, however, which he placed in the hands of good Martin
Fruse was anything but insignificant, for Ghent then ruled the states;
and it was determined that all measures were to be taken for the
security of the city and the repairs of the fortifications ; that the pur-
chase of supplies and provisions, and the levying of men, were to go
on as usual ; but that, upon the proposal of any important movement,
on the part of Ghent, a motion for its postponement till the return of
the President was immediately to be put, and supported by his friends.
The meeting of the states general, too, was to be opposed as much as
possible during his absence from Ghent; and as the authority of the
municipality was, of course, paramount in their own city, it seemed
probable that his friends would be able to exert great influence in
this respect. Any pretensions of the Duke of Gueldres to the
hand of the princess were to be strenuously opposed in the council ;
and Martin Fruse, and the burgher guard, were to give her every
support and protection, in case she might require it. Anxious, tooc
for the safety of Hugh of Gueldres, Albert Maurice took care that a
strong force should be stationed at the town prison, and that the
merchants should be prepared to put an instant negative upon any
proposal for bringing the prisoner to trial during his absence.

When all these arrangements were concluded, the next care of the
young citizen was to select such bands from amongst both the new and
old levies of the city, as were most likely to ensure him success in the
enterprises which he was about to execute; and this being done, and
all his further preparations completed, he proceeded, once more, to
visit the Vert Gallant of Hannut in the chamber to which he had now
been removed. The young cavalier lay in a deep, sweet sleep, from
which even the opening of the door and the approach of Albert Mau-
rice did not wake him ; and the President gazed for a moment or two
©n his face — as he lay so calm and tranquil, within the walls of a pri-
son, suffering from injuries, and exposed to constant danger — with
a feeling of envy and regret, which, perhaps, few can appreciate fully,
who have not felt the sharp tooth of remorse begin its sleepless gnaw-
ing on the heart.

He would not have disturbed such slumbers for the world ; and,

262 MARY OF BURGUNDY.

withdrawing again with a noiseless step, he retired tC !i!s own cham-
ber, and cast himself down upon his bed, to snatch, at least, thai
heated and disturbed sleep, which was all the repose that he was evei
more to know on earth.

CHAPTER XXXm.

The clang of trumpet echoing through the streets of Ghent, an houi
before daybreak, announced that the body of forces under the com
mand of the young President was about to set out upon its expedition
and as the burghers started from their sleep, and listened to th<
various sounds that followed — the trampling of horses, the voices o
the officers, and the dull measured tread of marching men, not unfre
quently did a feeling of pride rise in their bosoms from that universa
principle — "the extension of the idea of self;" as each one felt thai
the army thus on its march was, in some degree, his own, as part anc
parcel of the city of Ghent.

To the ears of none in the whole town, however, did the sounds
come more pleasantly than to those of the druggist Ganay, who h;ic
felt, within the last two days, a sort of thirst to see the back of bin
he had once loved, turned upon the city; for, though — with thai
degree of pride in his cunning, which artful men often possess — he
did not usually apprehend that his wit would fail in a struggle with
that of any other being; yet there was something in the unaccount-
able knowledge of foregone facts which Albert Maurice had displayed
that made him entertain a vague fear of the young citizen, and ren-
dered him unwilling to venture any very bold stroke till Ghent was
free from his presence.

The first sound of the trumpet fell upon his ear as he sat watching
the bed of the wounded Lord of Neufchatel, into whose sick chambei
he had obtruded himself with an officious zeal, which might have
been resented by the noble's attendants, had he not, by quiet and
soothing attentions, rendered himself useful, and his presence pleasing
to the invalid himself, while a long attendance on a sick and fretful
old man, had cooled and wearied those who were at first most active
in his service. A restless and feverish night had passed away; and,
as morning came, the ancient Seneschal of Burgundy showed some
inclination to fall asleep; but the first braying of the trumpets
roused him; and he eagerly demanded what those sounds meant,
The druggist explained the cause at once; and the enfeebled warrioi
shook his head with a melancholy air, as he heard the call to horse
sounded again, without being able to raise a limb from his couch.

" Twas not so when first you knew me, Master Ganay?" he said
and then — while one sound succeeded another, and squadron aftet
squadron marched forth through the streets — he continued to mur-
mur a number of low and somewhat incoherent sentences, between
the delirium of feverish irritation and the drowsiness of exhaustion.
At length, as a faint bluish light began to gleam into the chambei
from the dawning of the morning, the last horseman passed the gates
of the court-yard, and all Ghent resumed its former stillness.

The old man would then have addressed himself to sleep again ;
but Ganay now recalled his mind to the subject of his brighter days,
with an extraordinary degree of pertinacity. "Nay, nay, my noble

MART OF BUKGUNDT. 263

lord," he said, returning to the topic of their early acquaintance ;
"when first I saw your lordship, you would little have suffered an
army to march while you lay still in bed."

"Not I, not I, indeed!" replied the Lord of Neufchatel. "But
what can one do?"

"Alack, nothing now," said the druggist; "but think that you
never flinched while you could keep the saddle. You were as eager a
rider in those days as ever I met — ay! and somewhat hasty withal."

"Ah! my good Ganay, are you there now?" said the old lord.
"Have you not forgot that yet? Well, man, I did you wrong; but
have I not tried to make atonement ? I did you wrong, I do believe
from my soul."

"Believe, my lord !" cried Ganay, "are you not sure? Are not
the very papers you possess convincing enough of my innocence ?"

" Well, well, perhaps they are," replied the old maa somewhat
impatiently.

" Perhaps they are !" exclaimed the other. " Nay, surely they are.
But let me fetch and read them to your lordship — where can I find
them ?"

" They are in the Venice cabinet, I think," answered the Lord of
Neufchatel ; " but never mind them — never mind them. I tell thee
I am convinced — what need of more ? I would fain sleep now, if the
accursed itching of this thrust in my shoulder would let me. Call
the boy with his rote, good Ganay ; he often puts me to sleep by
playing on his instrument— or the man that tells stories : he is better
still. I never fail to grow drowsy as soon as he begins, and to snore
before he has half done."

" Take but a cup of this elixir, my lord," answered the druggist.
"Mind you not, how it refreshed you yesterday morning?"

" Surely," cried the old lord, in a peevish tone. " Have you any
more? Why did you not give it me sooner? How could you see
me suffer so all night, and not give me that which alone eases me ?"

" Because, if used too often, it loses its effect," replied the druggist.

" Give it me — give it me now, then !" cried the invalid, impatiently.
" When would you give a man medicine but when he is ill and in
pain? Spare not, man — let the dose be full. Thou shalt be well
paid for thy drugs."

Ganay took up a cup from the table, and nearly filled it with a
dark-coloured liquid from a phial which he drew out of his bosom.
He then gave it to the old noble, who drank off the contents at once,
while the druggist gazed on him with an eye which seemed almost
starting from its socket, so intense was the look of eager interest with
which he regarded him.

" Are you sure it is the same ?" said the Lord of Neufchatel, re-
turning the cup ; " it tastes differently ; it is bitterer, and has a faint
taste as of earth. It is — it is — not so "

But, as he spoke, the lids of his eyes fell ; he opened them drowsily
Once or twice, added a few more almost inarticulate words, and then
sunk back upon his pillow. Ganay looked at him intently for two or
three minutes, then stole out of the room, and, descending with a
quiet step to the hall, he woke his own serving-boy, who was sitting
by the fire. " Hie thee to the Prevot," he whispered ; " bid him hither
instantly!"

264 MART OF BUBGUNDT.

" Who goes there ?" cried the servant on watch, who had teen
asleep also, but was now wakened by the boy opening the door,
' Who goes there ?"

" Only my boy," answered Ganay, " going for some drugs against
my good lord wakes — I would have healed him sooner than all the
leeches in the town, had I but tried it before ; but, of course, I could
not meddle till he dismissed the surgeon in such wrath."

" How goes he now, Master Ganey?" demanded the man.

" Better, I hope!" replied the druggist, " but he has had a fearful
night. He now sleeps, and I think it is a crisis. If he wake better,
he will do well. If not, he dies."

" God forfend!" cried the man.

Ganay echoed loudly the wish, and retired once more to the sick
man's chamber. Entering with stealthy steps, he approached the
bed, and gazed upon him that it contained. A slight stream of dark
fluid had flowed from his mouth, and stained his pillow ; and Ganay,
as he remarked this appearance, muttered, "The stomach has re-
jected it. He must take more. To leave it half done, were worse
than all! Here, my lord," he added, aloud, shaking him by the arm
•— " Here ! take a little more of the same blessed elixir !"

But the old man made no answer, except by a long deep-drawn
sigh; and Ganay, adding, "He has had enough," sat down, and turn-
ing his face from the lamp, continued gazing for some minutes upon
the couch. From time to time, as he sat and looked, a few mut-
tered words would escape his lips; and often he would turn and
listen for the sounds in the street, as if impatient for the coming of
Borne one from without.

"The Venice cabinet!" he muttered, "that stands in the small
arras chamber by the saloon ! Could one reach it, now, unperceived!
But no. Tis better to wait till Du Bac arrives ; some of the varlets
might catch me, and all were ruined ; better wait till he comes. He is
very tedious, though — It works but slowly ! He has had hardly enough
— What can be done ? — He cannot take any more ! — That is a long-
drawn sigh — it should be the last — A little help were not amiss,
though !" and so saying, he pressed his hand heavily on the chest of
the old Lord of Neufchatel.

It rose once slightly against the weight ; but death and life were
by this time so nearly balanced in his frame, that it rose but once,
and then all was quiet. Still Ganay continued the pressure with his
whole force, till suddenly the eyes opened, and the jaw dropped; and
the murderer instinctively started back, fancying that his victim was
awakening from his slumber. But he instantly perceived that what
he saw was but the sign of a longer and more profound sleep having
taken the old man to repose for ever; and, after one more glance to
satisfy him that no means of resuscitation could prove available, he
loudly called upon the servants and attendants to give him help, for
that their lord was dying. It was same time before he made them
hear ; for the illness of the old noble had been long and tedious, and
kindness had been wearied, and attention worn out. When they did
come, therefore, the druggist had some excuse to rate them severely
for inattention and sloth. He affected to try many means of recall-
ing the dead to life again, and proposed to send for skilful leeches as
■oon as he heard the voice of Maillotin du Bac in the hall below.

MARY OF BURGUNDY. 26J

That officer now came boldly in, and, stopping all other proceedings,
demanded whether any relation of the dead lord were in the house.
The answer, as he knew it must be, was in the negative ; for — as the
6ervants replied — all his connexions were in the far parts of Bur-
gundy. " Well, then," cried the Prevot, " it becomes me, though not
exactly the proper officer, to seal up all the doors and effects of the
deceased, till such time as account can be taken. You, my men," he
continued, to the archers of the band that followed him, " gather all
these worthy servants and varlets together in the great hall, and see
that no one stirs a step, till I have asked them a question or two.
You, Master Ganay, being one of the magistrates of the town, had
better come with me, to bear witness that I seal all things fairly.
You, my good lieutenant, bring me some wax and a chafing dish, and
then return to the hall, to guard these worthy fellows till I come."

The domestic attendants of the old lord, amongst whom were
several of his ancient military retainers, grumbled not a little at this
arrangement, and might have shown somewhat more stubborn resis-
tance, had not the force brought by the Prevot overmatched them in
numbers as well as in preparations. One of them, however, whis-
pered to a boy who was amongst them, to slip out and warn the other
retainers in the lodging over the way ; the house, or rather houses of
the deceased noble, extending, as was not uncommon in those times,
to both sides of the street. With this intimation to the boy, and
one or two loud oaths, which the Prevot would not hear, the servants
were removed, and the two accomplices stood together in the dead
man's chamber alone. Such sights were too familiar to Maillotin du
Bac, to cause even the slightest feeling of awe to cross his bosom, as
he gazed on the face of the corpse ; and after looking at it for a
moment in silence, he turned to the druggist with a well-satisfied
smile, but without farther comment.

"Let us make haste!" cried Gana)' — " the papers are in the Venice
cabinet, in the little arras chamber by the saloon."

" Wait for the wax ! Wait for the wax, man !" replied the Prevot;
" there is plenty of time. Let us do things orderly. You seek for
the keys in the meantime. They are in that cupboard, probably.
Where is its own key ? But never mind ; I will put back the lock
with my dagger."

This was soon accomplished, and the open door exposed, as the
Prevot had expected, several large bunches of keys, and a leathern
bag, which bore all the marks of being swelled out with coined pieces
of some kind. The druggist seized upon the keys, and carefully con-
cealed them on his person ; but the Prevot dipped his hand zealously
into the heart of the leathern bag, drawing it forth, and then plunging
it deep into his own bosom, without at all examining what his fist
contained. After two or three such dives down into the pouch, which
grew somewhat lank and wrinkled under its intercourse with the
Prevot's hand, he raised it, as if to see how much it still contained,
murmuring — " We must leave some !"

An approaching step now caused him to replace it hastily, and
close the door ; and, as soon as the lieutenant brought him the wax
and chafing dish, Maillotin du Bac proceeded to secure that cupboard
first, using the hilt of his dagger as a seal.

The inferior officer waa speedily sent away, and the Prevot instantly

260 MAST OF BUUCUNDT.

turned to his companion, saying, " Now to the Venice cabinet, if yoti
will. You know the way better than I: lead on."

" This way, then ! this way !" answered the druggist, " we will go
by the back passage;" and opening another door, he hurried on
through several corridors, till they entered what had been the great
saloon of the hotel. They paused not to feel, and still less to comment
on the gloomy aspect which association gives to a festive chambep,
the lord of which is just gone down to the gloomy dust ; but crossing
it as fast as possible, they entered a small room beyond, which was
hung all round with rich arras tapestry, and which, besides some set-
tles and a table, contained a large black cabinet of the kind which was
at that time imported from Venice.

The druggist approached it eagerly; and looking at the lock, and
then at the keys in his hand, after some difficulty chose one, and ap-
plied it to the keyhole. What was his surprise, to find that the cabi-
net was already open, and that the whole shelves which it contained
were covered with books and papers, in a state of terrible confusion.

"Curses on the old sloven!" he cried; " this will take an age to
go through."

" Better take all the papers," said the Prevot, "and leave the trash
of books ; " but at all events make haste!"

" I cannot conceal them all," replied the druggist. " Here ! help
me to search. They are tied up in a bundle together, with my name
on the back."

The Prevot approached, and aided Ganay busily in his search;
and at length the druggist caught a sight of the papers, lying far
back in the cabinet: "Here they are! Here they are!" he cried;
but at that moment — as he was reaching his hand to seize them — a
powerful grasp was laid upon his shoulder, and turning round with
a sudden start, he beheld the countenance of Albert Maurice.

Without giving him time to deliberate, the young citizen drew him
forcibly back from the cabinet with his right hand, while he himself
laid his left upon the very bundle of papers that Ganay had been
about to take. The druggist was struck dumb with surprise, disap-
pointment, and consternation; but Maillotin du Bac, who did not
easily lose his presence of mind, exclaimed at once, " What, you here,
Sir President! I thought you were miles hence by this time."

" Doubtless you did," replied Albert Maurice; "doubtless you did!
What do you here ?"

" We seek to discover if there be any testamentary paper," replied
the Prevot, who perceived that the doorway, which opened into the
saloon, was full of people, amongst whom he recognised none of his
own band.

"And what right have you, sir, to seek for such papers?" demanded
the President. "Is it a part of your office? Is it a part of your duty?
You seem to consider your functions wonderfully enlarged of late.
Advance, Maitre Pierre," he continued, turning to one of the esche-
vins of the city, who had accompanied him thither. " You will do
your duty in sealing up the effects of the Lord of Neufchatel. As for
these papers which I have in my hand, I hold them to be necessary to
i\he state, having seen them before, by the consent of the Lord of
Neufchatel, while awaiting in this chamber of his house, an examina-
tion before the council cf the princess, on a charge brought against

MART OF BUBGUND15. 287

me by yon Prevot. It is my intention, therefore, to Tceep them in my
possession. But I beseech you, in the first instance, to envelope them
carefully, sealing them with your own seal, after which I will he an-
swerable for them to whatever person may prove to he the legal heij
of the nobleman deceased."

Ganay's face, always pale, became cadaverous, as he heard these
words ; and both Albert Maurice and the Prevot believed that the
only feeling of his heart, at that moment, was terror. The words he
muttered to himself, however, were — "Pool! he has destroyed him-
self!" and they might have served to show, had they been overheard,
that the predominant passion of his soul, revenge, was still uppermost,
and even overbore both consternation and surprise.

The eschevin, according to the desire of the President, sealed up
the papers in an envelope, and returned them to him ; and Albert
Maurice, whose stern eye had turned severely from the countenance
of the one culprit to the other, with an expression which made them
at first believe that he meditated to exert his authority for their im-
mediate punishment, now once more addressed the magistrate, saying,
" I must myself leave you, sir, to pursue this business alone, for it will
require hard riding to overtake the troops ; but I have every confidence
that you will examine this suspicious affair most strictly and carefully.
You know how far, according to the laws, such conduct as we have
seen to-day is just or unjust, and you will take measures, without
fear or favour, to see that justice be not evaded. But you will be
pleased especially to cause the body of the deceased nobleman, of
which we had but a casual glance, to be carefully examined by com-
petent persons, in order to ascertain the cause of death. My speedy
return will prevent the necessity of your employing any means but
those of precaution till we meet again. In the meantime, farewell."

Thus saying, Albert Maurice, without taking any further notice
either of Ganay or the Prevot, quitted the chamber ; and, leaving a
sufficient number of persons behind to enforce the authority of the
eschevin, he proceeded to the court-yard, and, mounting his horse,
galloped off.

Things that appear very extraordinary in themselves, are often
brought about by the simplest means ; and such had been the case in
regard to the interruption which Ganay and the Prevot had met with
in the execution of their design. Albert Maurice had been prevented,
by some casual business, from setting out himself at the hour he at
first proposed, but in order that the troops might not be delayed, he
suffered them to begin their march from Ghent, under their inferior
officers, well knowing that, with the number of swift horses he had at
his command, he could overtake them before they had advanced many
miles. His way lay past the hotel of the Lord of Neufchatel ; and as
he was riding hastily on with a few attendants, he saw a boy drop
from one of the casements, and run across the street in breathless
speed. From some vague suspicion, Albert Maurice stopped him,
with inquiries into the cause of his haste ; and the boy at once replied,
" The old lord is dead, and the Prevot and the druggist have shut all
the varlets up in the hall, while they seal up the papers. So they
Bent me to tell the squires and men-at-arms in the other lodging."

&ich tidings, joined to the previous knowledge that he possessed,
Was quite sufficient for Albert Maurice; and, sending instantly for

268 MAKY OF BURGUNDT.

one of the eschevins -who lived close by, he proceeded at once to tng
hotel, and, with his own followers, the retainers he found on the pre-
mises, and those who rapidly came over from the other side of the
street, he obliged the Prevot's guard to quit the place. He then at
once turned his steps to the chamber of the dead man, and after a
hasty examination of the corpse, which excited still strongar suspicions
than before, he led the way silently to the room in which he knew
that the papers referring to Ganay were usually kept.

All that ensued we have already seen, and, without pursuing any
further the events which took place in Ghent, we shall beg leave to
follow the young citizen on Ms journey.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

The transactions of the next few days, though certainly comprising
matters of great interest to many of the persons connected with the
present history, must be passed over as briefly as possible, because
their nature is in a certain sense discordant with the general tenour
of the story. This is no tale of battles : unless it be the battle of pas-
sions in the human heart ; and therefore it is that we give no minute
detail of the incidents which befel Albert Maurice in his short but
brilliant military career. Suffice it to say, that by happy combina-
tions, and the strenuous exertion of the great activity which was one
of the most conspicuous traits in his character, he had, in the short
short space of five days, thrown forces into Douai and Lille, and had
defeated Le Lude and a body of men-at-arms despatched from Arras
to cut off his retreat.

Well aware of the mighty effect of success in blowing up the bubble
of popularity, he despatched messenger after messenger to Ghent,
bearing tidings of each event as it occurred. Joy and gratulation
spread through the city ; and the people of Ghent, elated by their novel
exploits in arms, laid out in fancy vast plans of conquest and aggran-
dizement, and began to think themselves invincible in the field. Nor
was his military success without effect upon the heart of Albert
Maurice himself. It did not, it is true, produce such overweening
expectations in his own bosom as it did in those of his weaker fellow
citizens. But it certainly did give him fresh confidence in his own
powers from the very fact of finding good fortune attend him in every
effort, however new and unfamiliar to his habits and his mind. It
nerved him to dare all, and to struggle against every difficulty ; and
the combination of constant occupation and repeated triumph drowned,
for the time, those feelings of remorse and self-upbraiding which, day
by day, had been acquiring a stronger hold upon his heart. Besides
it communicated to his mind the refreshing consciousness of being
energetically employed in the execution of duties totally unmingled
with any baser motive in their origin, or any degrading means in their
progress. In the actions which he performed during these four days,
he felt that for the first time he was really serving his country — that
he was winning a purer glory and gaining a nobler name, than faction
or intrigue, whatever might bo its object and whatever might be its
result, could ever obtain for man ; and his heart expanded with a joy
long unknown when, at night, he summed up the events of the day,
and found that another sun had risen and set on deeds which he could

MARY OF BUKCONDT. 28f

dare all the world to scrutinize. Still the necessity of his immediate
return to Ghent was not the less felt ; and as soon as ever he had
accomplished the great purpose of his expedition, he commenced his
march homewards, and pursued it with as much rapidity as possible.

His force was, by this time, reduced to a thousand horse, from the
various reinforcements he had thrown into the frontier towns ; but
nevertheless, confident of his own powers, in returning to Ghent he
took a road which passed in the immediate neighbourhood of Tournay,
although various bands detached from the garrison of that city were
continually making excursions into the country around. He fixed his
quarters for the night, after his first day's march homeward, in a
little village about three miles to the east of that town ; and, taking
such precautions as were necessary to guard against surprise, he
passed the hours of darkness undisturbed.

It was a fine spring morning when he again put his troops in mo-
tion. The sun had just risen ; and the fresh, elastic air, driving the
vapours of the night before it. had gathered together in the north
a wide extent of dark clouds, streaked with the whiter mists that were
every moment carried to join them by the wind ; while over all the
rest of the sky the bright sunshine was pouring triumphantly, and
flashing upon the diamond drops that the night had left behind on
every spray and every blade of grass.

The body of horse which the young citizen commanded moved on
quickly, but cautiously, through the by-roads and less direct paths
which led between Tournay and Ath ; and it had proceeded in this
manner for about an hour, when the distant sound of a culverin, fol-
lowed by a heavy discharge of artillery, was borne upon his ear from
the westward. The troopers listened eagerly, with no small curiosity
written on their countenances ; but the face of Albert Maurice scarcely
betrayed that he heard the sounds, except by a curl of the lip, slight
indeed, but bitter and contemptuous. He rode on without comment ;
and, shortly after, as he led his force over the summit of a small hill,
he could perceive, on looking towards Tournay, though the place itself
was hidden by some wavy ground that intervened, a long stream of
thick, white smoke, drifting down the valley in which that city stands.
He drew in his horse for a moment, and gazed upon the sight ; and
then, putting his force into a quicker pace, pursued his road onward
towards Ghent.

The path which they were following entered, at about the distance of
two miles from the spot where they then were, the high road from Tour-
nay to Oudenarde ; and, passing among some woody grounds, it lay very
much concealed from observation. As they came near the open road,
however, Albert Maurice himself proceeded a little in advance of the
line to reconnoitre, before he led his forces forth from the less exposed
ground below. But ere he reached it the sounds that he heard were suf-
ficient to satisfy him that the highway was occupied by some party of
armed men, either friends or foes. The prospect of meeting with
the forces commanded by the Duke of Gueldres was little less dis-
agreeable to him than of encountering a superior body of the enemy,
and he accordingly halted his men, riding slowly along the narrow
border of copse which separated the low grounds from the high road,
in order to ascertain who were his immediate neighbours, and what
was. the direction they were taking. The trampling of horses, the

270 MART OP BURGUNDY.

jingling of armour, laughter, merriment, and oaths, announced suffi-
ciently the presence of a military force ; and the moment after, a break
in the belt of wood showed him the rear of a body of horsemen passing
on in a continuous but somewhat irregular line towards Tournay;
while the straight crosses of cut cloth which they wore sewed^ upon
their gambesons, at once designated them as the adherents of France
in opposition to Burgundy, the partisans of which dukedom were as
universally designated by the cross of St. Andrew.

The young burgher paused for several minutes ; and fixins-his eye
upon a break some way further down the road, watched till the spears
and plumes began to pass by that aperture also, and, by means of the
two, easily ascertained that the party he beheld did not amount to
more than five hundred men. Though from various traces of recent
strife, joined to the merriment that reigned amongst them, he judged,
and judged rightly, that the French were returning to Tournay after
some successful skirmish, which, he doubted not, had taken place with
the Duke of Gueldres ; yet, the superiority of his own numbers and
his confidence in his own powers, determined him immediately to
attack the enemy. This resolution was no sooner formed than exe-
cuted ; and although the space was narrow for the evolutions of ca-
valry, the road having on one side a large piece of marshy ground, and
on the other a scattered wood ; yet so unprepared were the French
fur the attack of the Gandois, and so skilfully did the young citizen
cm]. toy a raw against a veteran force, that the old soldiers of Louis at
once gave way before the fresh levies of Ghent; and while many a
man found an ignoble death in the morass, those were the happiest
who, by sharp spurring, made their way unscathed to Tournay.

A battery of small cannon, which enfiladed the part of the road that
led directly to the gate, protected the fugitives in their retreat; and
All" -rt M.uiricv. not fully aware of the state of the garrison, and the
amount of forces it could pour forth upon his small corps, hastened to
retreat from before the walls as soon as he found himself exposed to
their artillery. The way seemed clear before him ; yet, as he knew
that the enterprise of the Duke of Gueldres was to have taken place
about that time, and, from the firing he had heard in the morning,
doubted not it had been attempted on that very day, he could not be-
lieve that so small a party as that which he had just driven back,
would have ventured forth alone against the superior force of the Gan-
dois ; and he felt sure that some larger body of French troops must
still lie between him and the retreating army of the Duke of Gueldres.

1'nder these circumstances, and fearful of tarnishing the gloss of
his success by encountering a defeat at last, he caused the country to
be well reconnoitred as he advanced; and ere long, the reported ap-
pearance of a large force seen moving in the line of the high road,
about a. league in advance, made him resolve once more to take the
paths through the wood to the east, however circuitous and incon-
venient, being very well assured, from his knowledge of the country,
and from his acquaintance with the plans of the people of Ghent, that
the line of operations of either party could not have extended far to
the east of the Chernin d Oudenarde, as the high road was called.

lie accordingly at once quitted the broad causeway which led di-
rectly to Ghent, and passing across some of the wide yellow mustard
fields that lay to the rijjht, he gaine t, ur observed, the shelter of tij

MAR! OF BURGUNDY. 271

icattered woods through which he had heen before advancing. As he
marched on, however, the appearance of some of the fearful vestiges
of warfare — now a slain horse — now a long track of blood — now some
piece of armour, or some offensive weapon cast away in flight, showed
that a deadly strife must have passed not far from the ground over
which he was marching. These tokens of battle and defeat, however,
soon became less frequent ; and, by care and circumspection, he was
enabled to guide his forces to a safe distance from Tournay without
encountering any of the bands of either party which were scattered
over that part of the province. Not knowing the state of the country,
and determined, whatever were the case, to force his way onward to
Ghent without loss of time, he did not choose to detach any parties
from his main body ; but he was of course very anxious for intelli-
gence, and it was not long before he received as much as was necessary
for the purpose of determining his after proceedings. Ere he had
marched half a league, several stragglers belonging to the army of
Ghent joined his force ; and from them he learned, that on that very
morning the Duke of Gueldres had attacked and burned the suburbs
of Tournay ; but that, in effecting his retreat, his rear-guard had
been charged by a small force from the town, and had been nearly cut
to pieces, notwithstanding extraordinary efforts on the part of the
duke himself. That prince was reported to be dead or taken, and the
rest of the army had retreated, in no small confusion, upon Oudenarde.

This discomfiture of the Flemish forces, and the disgrace inflicted
On his country, were of course painful, as a whole, to the young citi-
zen ; but there were parts of the detail which were not so unpleasant,
for his successes of course stood out in brighter light from their con-
trast with the failures of the larger division ; and as it appeared, by
the account of the fugitives, that the party which had defeated the
Duke of Gueldres was the very same that he himself had in turn over-
thrown and driven into Tournay, the mortification would be in some
degree softened to the people of Ghent, while he could not find in his
heart to grieve very bitterly for their defeated commander.

The intelligence that he now received of the state of the garrison
of Tournay — which it appeared was very scanty, but bold and enter-
prising in the extreme — made him resolve to halt for the night at the
first village on the road, in order to keep the forces of that city in
check, while the dispersed parties of Flemings effected their retreat.
He accordingly took up his quarters at the little town of Frasne, on
the edge of the wood, and immediately sent out parties to reconnoitre
the country, and bring in any stragglers they might meet with. Few
fcere found, indeed ; but from their information, the young burgher
n-as led to suppose that the great body of the forces which had issued
from Ghent two days before, had made good its retreat, without any
farther loss than the discomfiture of its rear-guard. By the time
these facts were fully ascertained, the evening was too far advanced
to make any farther movement ; and Albert Maurice, having taken
measures to hold his present position in security, laid by the weighty
armour with which, according" to the custom of the day, he was encum-
bered on the march, and strolled out alone into the wood, to give
way to thoughts which had long been sternly pressing for attention.

He was now returning towards Ghent, where he could not hide
from himself that new scenes of intrigue, of anxiety, and of trouble,

272 MART OF BDHGUNDT.

lay before him. His previous conduct in the same career had given
birth to regrets which he had determined to scan and try more accu-
rately than he ever yet had done; and from his judgment on the
past, to form a firm and inflexible determination for the future. He
found, too, that now was the moment when the self-examination must
begin, if ever it was to be attempted, and many circumstances com-
bined to render it less painful than it had appeared before. Previous
to the expedition in which he was now engaged, the commune with
his own heart had offered so little but pure bitterness, that he had
avoided it with care. But his recent successes, in which was to be
found no matter for self-reproach, afforded him something wherewith
to balance more painful contemplations ; and with a decided purpose
of indulging that craving for calm reflection which had long preyed
upon him, he went forth totally alone, merely saying to his attendants
that he would speedily return.

Of course, it is not possible to follow the thoughts of Albert Mau-
rice through all the tortuous and uncertain ways which the human
heart pursues in its examination of itself. The result, however, was
painful. He compared what he had done, now that power was given
into his hands, with what he had proposed to do, when that power
existed but in expectation. Not six months before, he had deter-
mined, if ever circumstances should favour the exertion of his abili-
ties in the wide arena of political strife, to dedicate all the talents and
energy of his mind solely to the good of his country : to free her from
oppression, to remedy the evils of her situation, to open the way for
arts and civilization, to place laws and rights upon such a footing
that they could never be doubted nor destroyed, and to accomplish
all this by the most calm and peaceful means, without spilling one
unnecessary drop of blood, without causing one eye through all the
land to shed a tear.

Such had been his purpose, but what had been his conduct, and
■what had he become ? He had appropriated to himself nearly the
whole power of the state. He had obtained influence greater than
his fondest expectations had held out. He had not improved one law
He had not removed one evil. He had seen, under his own authority,
anarchy substituted for civil order and domestic peace. He had in-
volved himself in the meanest wiles of faction and intrigue. He had
beheld innocent blood shed by the hands of the populace. He had him-
self brought about the death of two noble-minded men, who, his own
heart told him, were innocent of the crimes with which they were
charged ; and conscience thundered in his ear that they were murdered
for his ambition. He could no longer look upon himself as a patriot.
He knew himself to have become solely an ambitious demagogue ; and
he saw no means of extricating himself or his country from the state
into which he had aided to immerse it, but by pursuing the same
dark and intricate intrigues, the mean cunning of which he felt bit-
terly to be degrading to his better nature — by shedding more blood,
by stirring up more discord, and by plunging deeper and deeper into
the abyss of anarchy and confusion.

While such a conviction forced itself upon his mind, he almost
shrunk from himself; and the small, still voice within whispered that
but one way was left — to yield the hand of Mary of Burgundy to any
prince whose state and situation offered the most immediate prospect

MAKT OP BUHGUNDY. 273

if benefit and support to his country ; to make price of that fair
hand and the rich dowry that went with it, the full recognition of
Juch popular rights as would put the freedom and prosperity of Flan-
ders for ever beyond a doubt, and on his own part to resign the hopes
and aspirations that had led him so far astray. But those hopes—
those aspirations — had become parts of his very soul, and to require
him to cast them from him, was to bid him die. As the bare idea
crossed his mind of resigning Mary of Burgundy— of seeing her
in the arms of another — the blood rushed up into his head with
violence ; and he paused abruptly on his way, resolved, if thought
presented such images, to think no more. The good and the evil
principle were in his heart at eternal war; calm reflection in-
stantly gave the good full promise of victory ; but the evil had but
to call up the idea of Mary of Burgundy as the wife of another, to
banish reflection altogether, and every better purpose along with it.

He had, by this time, advanced somewhat far into the wood, and
the faint grey of the sky announced that the sun was sinking rapidly
below the horizon, and warned him to return to the village. The
road he had followed was a long grassy path, cut by the wheels of the
wood-carts, and there was no mistaking his way back. But, as he
paused, determined to think no more, since thought required such
Ktter sacrifices, he looked onward vacantly, ere he turned, directing
with difficulty his mind towards external things, the better to with-
draw it from himself. As he did so he remarked, at the bottom of
the slope, down which the path proceeded, some large white object
lying amongst the long grass which fringed a little forest stream.
The distance was not more than a hundred yards in advance ; and
attracted, he knew not very well why, he strode on almost uncon-
sciously towards the spot. As he came nearer, the object which had
caught his eye assumed the form of a horse, either dead or asleep ;
and to ascertain which was the case he still walked forward, till he
stood close beside it, and found that it was the carcase of a splendid
charger, which had dropped apparently from exhaustion- and loss of
blood. A rich military saddle and a poitrel, inlaid with gold, an-
nounced that the rank of the rider must have been high, while a fresh
wound in the poor beast's side, and another in his thigh, seemed t«
show that he had been engaged in the skirmish of that morning.

Albert Maurice gazed on the horse for a moment, not exactly with
indifference, but with no great interest in a sight which had been
frequently before his eyes during the last two or three days. The
thing that principally attracted his attention, indeed, was the costli-
ness of the caparisons, and he looked round the little glade in which I19
now stood, to see if he could perceive any further traces of the horse'a
owner. His eye instantly rested upon a pile of splendid arms, cast
heedlessly down at a short distance ; and as he walked forward to
examine them also, a man started up, as if from sleep, amongst tha
fern which there thickly clothed the forest ground, exclaiming—
"Who goes there?"

A single glance sufficed to show Albert Maurice that he stood in
presence of the Duke of Gueldres, and that prince almost as soon per-
ceived whom he himself had encountered. No great love existed be-
tween them, it is true ; but a natural compassion for the defeat and
disappointment which the duke had that day sustained, and a con-

274 MARY OF BURGUNDY".

▼iction that that defeat, together with his own success, had removed all
danger from the rivalry of the other, greatly softened the feeling of
enmity in the bosom of the young citizen, and a word would have
disarmed him entirely. The contrary, however, was the case with
Adolphus of Gueldres, who, naturally furious and impatient, had been
rendered almost insane by defeat and disgrace. He had heard, too,
it would seem, of the late successes of Albert Maurice, and jealousy
and envy were thus added to hatred. His words and his manner had
been quick and vehement, even before he had seen who it was that
roused him. But no sooner did he distinguish the features of the
young citizen, than the thought of his own overthrow and of the
triumph of Albert Maurice, mingled with remembrance of the oppo-
sition he had formerly met with, and the cool contempt with which
he had been treated on their last meeting, all rose up in his mind, and
his countenance became convulsed with passion.

" Ha!" he cried, " you here, Sir Mechanic ! you here to insult and
triumph over me! Or have you come to finish out what we but be-
gan in the town-hall of Ghent? Doubtless you have ! Quick, then!
Quick ! Draw, sir, draw your sword, I say ! Thank God, there is
no one here either to part us, or to see the Duke of Gueldres stain his
blade with the blood of a low citizen !"

Albert Maurice himself was not, naturally, the most patient of
men ; and he instantly laid his hand upon his sword. But nobler
feelings checked him the moment after ; and he paused in the act,
saying — "You had better reflect, my lord!"

Before he could add another word, however, the Duke of Gueldres
struck him a blow with the pommel of his weapon, that made him
reel ; and the next moment their blades were crossed.

Complete master of every military exercise, powerful, active, quick-
sighted and calm, Albert Maurice was far more than a match for the
Duke of Gueldres, though that prince had always been reputed a stout
and skilful man-at-arms. So great, indeed, did the young President
feel his own superiority to be, that, had he not been heated in some
degree by the blow he had received, he would, most probably, have
contented himself with wounding or disarming his antagonist. But
he was heated with the insult ; and in four passes, the sword of the
Duke of Gueldres, turned from its course, was wounding the empty
air over the shoulder of Albert Maurice, while the blade of the young
citizen passed direct through the chest of his adversary.

Albert Maurice recovered his weapon, and gazed for a moment on
the duke, whose mortal career he felt must be at its close. But that
unhappy prince stood before him for an instant, still grasping hi*
sword, and still apparently firm upon his feet, though a ghastly swim-
ming of his eyes showed what a convulsive agony was moving his
frame within. He made no further effort to lunge again ; but he
stood there by a sort of rigid effort, which sufficed for a time to keep
him from falling, though that was all. The next moment the sword
dropped. He reeled giddily ; and then fell back with a fearful sort
of sobbing in his throat.

Albert Maurice kneeled down beside him, and strove to stanch the
blood (which was now flowing copiously from his wounds) in such a
degree as to enable him to speak, should he have any directions to
give before he died. He brought some water, also, from the brook

MART OF BURGUNDY. 274

hard by, and sprinkled his face; and the duke almost instantly
opened his eyes, and gazed wildly about for a moment.

Then, as his glance met that of Albert Maurice, he exclaimed, in
the same harsh and brutal tone he had before used, "You have slain me
fellow ! you have slain me! Out upon it, churl: you have spilt some
of the best blood of the land."

"My lord," said Albert Maurice, solemnly, "you have brought it
on yourself. But think not of that at this moment .' You are dying.
There is such a thing as another world ; and, oh ! repent you of your
Bins while you are yet in this !"

" Is it you tell me to repent?" cried the duke, faintly," you who have
shortened my time for repentance. What know you of my sins?"

" Nothing, but by report, my lord," replied the young citizen ;
" except, indeed, on one occasion — the fire at the pleasure-house of
Lindenmar — the death of the young heir of Hannut!"

The duke groaned. " Oh! were that all," cried he, "were that all,
that might soon be pardoned ; for my own hands in some degree un-
did what my own voice commanded. But stay, stay," he added,
speaking far more quickly, " stay ! The old man they say still grieves
for his child ; still, perhaps, suspects me. Ply to him quick. Tell
him the boy did not die in the flames of Lindenmar. Tell him, tell
him that I bore him away myself. Tell him that, bad as I was, I
could now insist the look of helpless infancy ; that I carried him away
wrapt in my mantle ; and when my own boy died, bred him as mine ;
that I was kind to him ; that I loved him, till the butchers of Duke
Philip murdered him, when they cast me into prison at Namur."

A light broke at once upon the mind of the young citizen. " Good
God !" he cried, " he is not dead. He lives, my lord, he lives ! He
escaped, found refuge with his own father ; ay, and was instrumental
in procuring your liberation from prison. He lives — indeed, he lives !"

The eyes of the Duke of Gueldres fixed upon him as he spoke, with
an intense and half-doubting gaze. But as the young burgher re-
peated earnestly, " He lives !" the dying man, by a great effort, half
raised himself from the ground, clasped his hands together, and ex-
claimed, "Thank God !" They were the last words he ever spoke j
for almost as he uttered them, he closed his eyes, as if a faint sickness
had come over him, fell back upon the turf with a convulsive shudder ;
and in a few moments Adolphus of Gueldres was no more.

Albert Maurice gazed upon him with a feeling of painful interest.
He had slain him, it is true, under circumstances which he believed
to justify the deed. But no one, that is not in heart a butcher, can,
under any circumstances, take life hand to hand, without feeling that
a shadow has settled over existence. There is always something to
be remembered, always something that can never be forgotten. In
the case of the young citizen, too, the cloud was of a deeper shade ;
for he felt that in the death of the Duke of Gueldres, however justi-
fied by the immediate provocation, he had taken another life in that
course of ambition, in which he foresaw that many more must fall.

Thus in gloomy bitterness, he took his way back to the village,
and without any explanation, gave orders that the dead body should
be brought in with honour. The soldiers concluded that both horse
and man had died by the hands of the enemy ; and Albert Maurice,
in quitting his quarters the next moniin-, gave strict directions that

276 MARY OF BURGUNDY.

the remains of the deceased prince should be immediately sent after
him to Ghent.

After his departure, however, before a bier could be got ready, and
all the necessary preparations entered into, a party from the town of
Tourney swept the little village of Frasne ; and the body of the
duke, being found there, was carried away by the French. Due
honours were shown to the corpse by the people of Tournay; and
many writers of that age attribute the death of Adolphus, the bad
Duke of Gueldres, to the successful sortie of the garrison of that city.

CHAPTER XXXV.

I? was barely dawn when Albert Maurice began his last day's march
towards Ghent; and though the distance was considerable, at the
hour of three in the afternoon, he was within a league of the city.
The number of armed men that he now overtook, both single indivi-
duals and small bands, showed him that the force which had retreated
from before Tournay must have lately passed. And with a sort of
anxious apprehension in regard to the machinations which might
have taken place in Ghent during his absence, he spoke personally
with almost all the stragglers he saw ; and, by a few kind words, easily
induced a number of the half-disciplined burghers and peasantry to
join the small force he was leading into Ghent ; most of them being
very willing to pass for part of a conquering rather than part of a
conquered army.

At the distance of about two miles from the city, at a point where
the town itself was hidden by a detached wood, Albert Maurice per-
ceived a small body of horsemen coming towards him ; but as such a
sight had nothing extraordinary in it, he took but little heed of the
party till it was within a hundred yards, when, to his unutterable
surprise, he beheld the portly figure of worthy Martin Fruse leading
the van on horseback, a situation which the good burgher, as may
be well remembered, had never coveted in his most agile and enter-
prising age, and which had become quite abhorrent to Ms feelings now
that years and bulk had weighed down all activity.

" Halt your troops ! halt your troops, my dear boy !" cried th«
worthy merchant, in some trepidation. "Halt your troops, and listen
to me while I tell you "

" Had you not better speak with the honourable President apart?"
said one of the party, in whom Albert Maurice instantly recognised
Maitro Pierre, the eschevin who had been called to examine the
dwelling of the old Lord of Neufchatel ; although, in glancing his eye
over the rest, he could recall the face of none other amongst the stout
men-at-arms, of which the chief part of the band was composed.

Seeing that there was something to be communicated, and judging
that no very agreeable intelligence awaited him, from the evident
agitation of his friends, he gave the command to halt Ms little force ;
and then leading the way into the meadow, begged his uncle to ex-
plain the cause of his perturbation.

Martin Fruse began with a violent declamation upon the evils of
riding on horseback, and the perils thereupon attending; but he ended
with a recapitulation of dangers, somewhat more real, which awaited
Jus nephew if he ventured within the gates of Ghent. It seemed that

MARY OF BUKGUNDT. 277

the violent party — as Albert Maurice had apprehended — had, under
the skilful tactics of the druggist Ganay, completely outmanoeuvred
the little junta which the young President had left to keep them in
vlieck ; and now that it was too late, Albert Maurice perceived that
jie had suffered his thirst for military renown to lead him aside from
the paths of saner policy. Ganay himself had become the supreme
object of the people's adoration ; and having leagued himself by some
skilful management with the Duke of Cleves on the one hand, and
the populace on the other, he had been entirely successful in all the
measures he had proposed to the council of magistrates. The states
general had not again met, but a new party had been created in the
town. The city of Ghent, in fact, had become completely, but une-
qually divided ; for though a stong and influential body had attached
themselves to Martin Fruse, the multitude adhered to his opponent.

Ganay, indeed, the worthy burgher said, not daring openly to assail
one whose successes in the field were daily subject of rejoicing with
the citizens, affected to act upon the instructions and desires of Albert
Maurice himself; and the complete, or rather apparent union between
them, which had formerly existed, had aided to deceive the people.
Martin Fruse had reproached the druggist, and reasoned with the
magistrates, in vain ; and all that he had gained was the certainty
that, from some cause which he could not define, Ganay had become
his nephew's most bitter enemy, though he still affected to regard him
as a friend. Private information, also, had reached Martin Fruse
early in the morning, that, as soon as it had been ascertained the
young citizen was on his march with the intention of reaching the
city in the course of the day, Ganay, supported both by the nobility
under the Duke of Cleves, and by the more violent members of
the states, had contrived a scheme for arresting the President that
very night, at a grand banquet to be given in honour of his return ;
and the large body of discontented soldiery which had been pouring
into the town during the day, and who were already jealous of those
who had been more successful than themselves, seemed to offer the
means of accomplishing this purpose in security.

Martin Fruse, losing all presence of mind at the danger of his
beloved nephew, had determined to quit the city, to meet and warn
the object of this conspiracy of his danger, ere he entered town. The
eschevin, who had Deen called to the hotel of the Lord of Neufchatel,
conscious that some suspicions which he had ventured to breathe
concerning the death of that nobleman had rendered him obnoxious
to the party which for the time appeared triumphant, had joined the
good burgher ; and the danger that seemed to threaten all, had even
overcome the objection of Martin Fruse to the use of a horse.

This tale was soon told ; and Albert Maurice, from his own private
knowledge of all the springs that were moving the dark cabals within
the walls of the city before him, saw much deeper into the dangers
and difficulties of his own situation than those who detailed the cir-
cumstances which had occurred since his departure. He saw that
the crisis of his fate was come ; and without once entertaining the vain
thought of avoiding it, he merely paused to calculate how he might
pass through it most triumphantly.

Fear, or hesitation, doubt, or even anxiety, never seemed to crosg
his mind for a moment. He felt, it is true, that his victory or his fall

278 MARY OF BURGUNDY.

must be now complete, and that lie was marching forward to a strife
that must be final and decisive ; but still he was eager to bring the
whole to a close, perhaps from that confidence in his own powers
which is ever one great step towards success. He heard his uncle to
an end with an unchanged countenance ; and then, without a single
observation on the intelligence he had just received, he spoke a few
words to the eschevin, in a low tone, in regard to the inquisition he
had charged him to make in the house of the old Lord of Neufchatel.
The answers seemed to satisfy him well; for ever and anon he bowed
$iis head with a calm but somewhat bitter smile, saying merely, " So!
Ay! Is it so?"

At length he demanded suddenly — pointing to a man-at-arms who
had come up with his uncle and the party which had accompanied
him, and now sat with his visor up, displaying a fresh and weather-
heaten countenance, well seamed with scars of ancient wounds —
" Who is that ? I should know his face."

" That," whispered his uncle, riding close up to him, " that is good
Matthew Gourney, the captain of adventurers, who was with us in
the year '50, when we made a stand against the Count of Charolois.
He said you had sent for him."

"I did, I did!" replied the young burgher ; "but I had forgotten
all about it, in the events that have since taken place. Where is the
prisoner I left in the town prison?"

" Ay, there is one of their bold acts," answered Martin Fruse ; and
is he spoke, the countenance of Albert Maurice turned deadly pale,
thinking they had put to death the man whom he had promised to set
free; but his uncle soon relieved him. "Ay, there is one of their bold
acts," he said ; " they have moved him from the town-house to the
Prevot's prison, and threaten to do him to death to-morrow by cock-
crow. Maillotin du Bae would fain have had him tried by the esche-
vins this morning; but the Duke of Cleves made so long a speech, and
brought so much other business before the council, that they agreed
to put it off till to-morrow, when he is to be interrogated at six
o'clock, and have the question at seven if he refuse to confess."

Again the President mused, without reply, though he saw that to
extort confessions, which would tend to create a charge against him,
might be the object of the Prevot in reserving the Vert Gallant for
the torture. At length, riding up to the old man-at-arms, he led him
apart, and conversed with him earnestly for near a quarter of an hour.
He then conducted him, with the dozen of troopers who accompanied
him, to the last constabulary of the horse which had shared in his
own successful expedition, and then spoke a few words with the con-
stable, or leader of the troop, who, with a low reverence, dropped
back amongst his men. The followers of Matthew Gournay fell into
the ranks; the adventurer put himself at their head; and scarcely
a difference was perceivable in the order of the band.

As soon as all this was completed, Albert Maurice rode back to his
tinele and the rest of his party, and informed them calmly that it was
absolutely necessary, notwithstanding all the events which had lately
taken place, that they should return to Ghent, and re-enter the town
Vy one of the opposite gates; so as to leave it at least doubtful whether
tiey had or had not held any communication with himself.

What he required of them was, perhaps, somewhat hard, consider-

MART OP BURGUNDY. 273

ing that they were peaceable men, who had no small reason to fear
for their lives, and had no immediate stimulus to make them risk so
much willingly. But Martin Fruse had seen his nephew accomplish
such great things in the face of every sort of improbability, and the
tone in which Albert Maurice spoke was so calm and assured, that the
wishes of the young citizen were received as commands; and the small
party of citizens, now left without an escort, rode off; while the
young President still halted on the road, to give them time to make
the circuit proposed before his entrance. As soon as he judged that
this object was accomplished, Albert Maurice again put his troops in
motion, and advanced slowly towards the city. As he emerged from
the low wood that had hitherto screened him, he despatched a trum-
pet to announce his approach to the council of Ghent, and the States
of Flanders ; and directed the messenger especially to speak with
Signior Ganay, one of the magistrates of the town. He then resumed
a quicker pace, and approached rapidly the walls of the city.

Before he reached the gates, however, it became evident that his
harbinger had not spared the spur, and had already executed his
commission. A large body of horsemen were seen to issue forth, ac-
companied by a crowd on foot; and loud shouts of joy and gratulation
met the ear of Albert Maurice, showing that the populace, at least, to
whom Ganay had first made his court by affecting friendship for their
victorious President, had not yet become aware of the designs of his
enemies. But such demonstrations of the popular joy on his return,
were received by Albert Maurice as no sign that the purpose of des-
troying him did not exist, nor as any reason for expecting that his
overthrow would not be attempted, nor as any proof that the poople
would oppose or resent it ; for no one knew better than himself how
slight a charge will condemn the most innocent before the fierce tri-
bunal of the multitude, or felt more bitterly how readily those who
now greeted his return would shout at his execution.

He was surprised, however, as the two parties drew near each other,
to find that the body which had issued forth to receive him was headed
by Ganay himself, and was composed of all those whom he had the
greatest reason to look upon as his political enemies. But Albert
Maurice was not to be deceived ; and though he received the compli-
ments and gratulations of the citizens on his return, and their thanks
for his great services, with a smiling countenance, and bland un-
troubled brow, yet his mind clearly divined the motives of so much
courtesy, and he internally scoffed at the grossness of the deceit they
attempted to play off upon him. He bowed, and smiled, and doffed
his cap and plume to every one who affected to congratulate him ;
but he well understood that he was surrounded by doubtful friends or
concealed enemies, and watched carefully every changing expression
of the faces round him.

The populace on foot, who crowded round, with loud and vehement
shouts of " Long live the noble President ! Long live the conqueror
of Le Lude!" he clearly saw were sincere enough. But in the set
speeches and formal courtesy of the different members of the states,
he beheld much to distrust, and calmly prepared for those great mea-
sures which were alone fitted to meet the exigency of the moment.

Albert Maurice was a reader of the human countenance — a book,
every volume of which is easy to comprehend, when we know the

280 MARY OP BORGUNDY.

language in which it is written, or, in other words, when we under-
stand the general character of the individual. Ganay was a master
in the art of dissimulation; but the young citizen was so intimately
acquainted with every turn of his dark mind, that even the slight
traces which he suffered to appear, were as legible to Albert Maurice,
as if he had seen into his heart. He marked a transient and scarcely
perceptible shade come over the brow of the druggist, whenever tha
people vociferated their noisy welcome. He saw, too, that on each
shout, Ganay redoubled his attention to himself; and he perceived
that, from the moment they met, his former friend attached himself
to his side, and strove anxiously to prevent his holding any private
communication with the leaders of his troops. From all this, he judged
that the tidings received from Martin Fruse were substantially correct;
and that the honours shown him on his return, were only to deceive
the people, while any act that was meditated against him was to be
executed at night, after the lower orders had retired to rest.

Albert Maurice affected to be entirely deceived, and rode on with
the party who had come to welcome him, with every appearance of
friendship and confidence. He spoke freely and calmly to those around
him ; addressed Ganay frequently in a low and confidential tone ; and
at the same time, assumed all that state and dignity, which he knew that
his enemies expected him to display. He marked, too, with a feeling
of suppressed scorn, the significant glances which passed between his
foes, as — taking on himself the principal place, and with an air and
demeanour, which might have suited the most potent monarch in
Christendom — he rode through the gates of Ghent amidst the accla-
mations of the people.

While thus Albert Maurice proceeded, surrounded by a great number
of the high citizens, the troops he commanded followed in a long line,
now swelled to the amount of nearly fifteen hundred men. The
whole cavalcade moved on towards the market-place ; but some persons,
who remained near the drawbridge, remarked that the last band
of soldiers did not follow the rest: but, halting at the gate, relieved
the guard that was there on duty, and then passed on, in a different
direction, by the low streets which ran under the walls. At the same
time, however, three of the troopers were detached, and, at once,
repassing the gates, galloped off at full speed, in the direction of
Hcusden and Melle. It was farther observed, that in about two hours
afterwards, three bands of men-at-arms came up from the same quar-
ter, at a quick pace, and entered the city, without even being ques-
tioned by the guard. To what spot they went in the city was not
Tery clearly ascertained, but it was generally reported that they made
their way in small parties to the town-house.

In the meanwhile, Albert Maurice and the rest pursued their march
towards that building, the crowd increasing every moment as they
passed, and rending the air with their acclamations. With his helmet,
lance, and shield, carried by pages behind him, as if he had been the
most distinguished knight in the land — with his cap and plume in his
hand, and bowing his fine head low at every shout of the multitude,
the young citizen advanced towards what was called the Perron of the
Hotel de Ville, on which he found collected, to do him honour, the
Duke of Cleves and a number of the other nobles of the town and
neighbourhood. Knowing their league against him, and what 8

MART OF BTJRCUNDr. 281

mockery they considered this public reception of a simple burgher,
Albert Maurice could scarcely prevent the scorn he felt in his heart
from curling his proud lip. But he did prevent it, and merely
thinking, like Hamlet — "They fool me to the top of my bent," he dis.
mounted from his horse at the steps, and played exactly the parj
•which he well knew they expected from him. After receiving, with
a degree both of haughtiness and humility, the gratufations of tha
nobles upon his successful expedition, he turned and addressed the
lower orders of Ghent in a long and flattering harangue, throughout
which the close of every period was drowned in the enthusiastic cheers
of the populace.

"It were hard, my friends," he added, in conclusion, "that you
should all come out hither to welcome my return, and I should give
you no sign of my good will. Pain would I have you all to sup with
me ; but, in good faith, there are so many here — some twenty thou-
sand, as I guess — that no house could hold the multitude I see around
me. However, it is a fair and beautiful evening, and there is no
better roof than the sky. Now, as these noble lords and worthy mer-
chants have invited me to banquet with them within, I invite you all
to sup here in the market-place, and by seven of the clock you shall
find good ale and beef enough to satisfy you, if I give the last stiver
of my private fortune to entertain the worthy artisans of Ghent."

A loud shout burst from the people, but Ganay and his friends
exchanged glances not of the most pleasant kind. Nor were their
looks rendered more placid, when they heard an order given by the
young President to his troops, purporting that they were to stable
their horses in whatever sheds they could find round the market-
place, and to quarter themselves in the wide halls and vacant cham-
bers of the Hotel de Ville. Ganay even ventured to remonstrate
against turning the town-house into a barrack, but he was instantly
silenced by Albert Maurice.

" I have heard, my excellent, good friend," he replied, " since my
return to Ghent, that the fifteen thousand men, who were driven like
sheep from before Tournay, have been received in this city, and quar-
tered in the different barracks. I know, therefore, that there can be
no room to spare, and what you urge with regard to the illegality of
bringing troops into the town-house, you must well know does not
apply in the present case. The troops which I have resolved to station
there are the troops of the city of Ghent, not those of either a foreign
or a native prince."

" But for the informality of the thing," urged Ganay, seeing that
by the very measures which he had taken to secure the safe execution
of his purpose against the young citizen, he had, in fact, over-reached
himself—" but for the informality of the thing, would it not be better,
as there is no room for them in the town, to march them into any of
the pleasant little villages in the neighbourhood ?"

" What !" exclaimed Albert Maurice, assuming an air of indignation
— " what! make the victorious troops, that have so well served the
city, give place to those who have brought nothing but disgrace upon
us! No, no, Master Ganay, let us hear no more of this. My orders
must be obeyed;" and so saying, he turned and advanced towards the
door of the town-house.

A short and rapid conversation was now carried on, in a low tone,

282 MARY OF BURGUNDY.

between the druggist and the Duke of Cleves, as they ascended the
steps towards the hall. " It will be impossible to-night," whispered
the noble.

" If he live over to-morrow," replied Ganay, " no earthly power will
overthrow him."

A few words succeeded, in so low a tone, that even, by the parties
who spoke, their meaning was probably gathered more completely
by their mutual looks, than by any distinct sounds. A white-haired
old soldier, however, who was pushing up the steps after the Presi-
dent, just heard Ganay add, " If I do, will you justify and defend me?"

"Anything to get rid of him!" replied the duke, emphatically; and
they both passed on.

The sun was, by this time, beginning to descend in the western sky;
and on entering the town-house, the young citizen retired to the
apartments which had been assigned him in that building, and re-
mained long in consultation with various persons, who were admitted
to him one after another. The individuals who thus visited him were
all marked by the opposite faction, which remained in the other parts
of the town-house ; and it was seen that, besides Martin Fruse, and a
number of the burghers adhering to the party of that good citizen,
almost all the leaders of the bands which had accompanied the young
President in his expedition to Lille and Douai were admitted, and
remained with him long.

All this, however, appeared natural enough ; and though his troops,
in quartering themselves in different parts of the building, according
to his orders, seemed to take upon themselves a tone of authority and
power not very pleasing to his adversaries, yet this also might pass
for the swagger and insolence of military success; nor did it excite
any very great surprise. As the evening went on, however, a number
of persons were observed ascending to his apartments, whose faces no
one recognised. Some stayed and some returned ; but it was evident
that they were not citizens of Ghent, and great was the anxiety and
discussion which these appearances caused amongst the enemies of
the young President. Every means was taken to discover whence
they came and what was their errand, but it was all in vain. The
Duke of Cleves retired to his own hotel, to prepare for the scenes that
were about to take place ; and Ganay waited eagerly the coming of
the hour appointed for the banquet, which would put on end, he be-
lieved, for ever to transactions which, from many causes, he both
doubted and feared.

Nevertheless, his sensations were of a mixed, and even painful
nature, and his conclusions in regard to the conduct of Albert Maurice
were less clear and decided than they had ever been before. He did
not and would not believe that the President supected the precise
design of those who had contrived his overthrow ; but he saw evidently
that he was not deceived by all the fair appearances which had wel-
comed him back to Ghent; and he felt that the moment was come
when, as, the young citizen had long before foreseen, the immediate
destruction of the one was necessary to the safety of the other. That
conviction in his own bosom of course made him believe that Albert
Maurice was equally alive to the same fact; and as the means which
he had so carefully prepared during the absence of the other had been,
in some degree rendered vain by the measures that the President had

HAKY OF BURGUNDV. 283

taken, the druggist now stood resolved to suatch the first opportunity
of executing his purpose by any means, however great the risk, well
knowing that the peril of delay was still greater.

And yet, strange to say, there was within the bosom of that man—,
hardened as he was by crimes, and still more hardened by the
struggles of passions concealed within his breast through a long life-
strange to say, there was a feeling of deep regret, of bitter repugnance,
when he thought of the very act he planned for his own security. If
ever there had been, in the course of all his existence, a being that he
had sincerely loved, besides his own unhappy son, that being had
been Albert Maurice ; and though in the scenes of civil faction and
the strife of contending interests and desires which they had lately
passed through, that affection had been apparently smothered, it is
wonderful how freshly it rose up in his heart, when he thought that
Albert Maurice must die by his means — possibly by his own hand.

The fatal creed he held of man's entire mortality, made him fearless
of death himself, and careless of inflicting it on others; but, perhaps,
by teaching him that the loves and affections of this life were all, it
made them take a deeper hold upon his heart, when once they could
grasp it by any means ; and for a moment, as he thought of cutting
off the noble being whose powers he had so often admired — of extin-
guishing for ever all those fiery energies and bright aspirations he had
watched from their first breaking forth to their full expansion — he
shuddered at the task.

The people without, witnessing the preparations for the banquet
to which the young citizen had invited them, from time to time
shouted forth his name with loud applause, and there was a voice
within the bosom of Ganay that echoed their praises. " He is, indeed,
a splendid creature," he thought; "and if ever there was one calcu-
lated to win all hearts, and lead men and nations on to scenes and
glories such as the world has never yet seen, he is the man. Yet,
after all, he must die! and 'tis but like the slaughter of a mighty stag
or a noble boar; and death — which ends all things — perhaps, when
the pain and the pleasure of life are fairly balanced, is the crowning
good that renders the whole equal at last ; but I must speed to see all
prepared!"

CHAPTER XXXVI.

Never had the town of Ghent witnessed so magnificent a sight as oa
the night after the return of Albert Maurice. The whole market-
place before the Stadt Huys, illuminated by a thousand torches, was
crowded with people regaling at long tables, which groaned beneath
the burden of good cheer. The young President had spared no means
to satisfy all ; and, by the magic influence of gold, had, in the short
time which had elapsed since his return, conjured up a festival more
like some of those fairy banquets depicted in an Eastern tale, than
anything in real life. Thousands and thousands, too, of the wealthier
classes, whose circumstances raised them above those who came to
partake of his bounty, moved through the open spaces, enjoying the
scene. The Perron of the Hotel de Ville was crowded with guards,
officers, and attendants, looking over the gay and happy sight which
the square afforded, and above all rose the dark mass of the town-
bouse, with a broad blaze flashing forth from all the open win-

284 wakst op burcund?.

dows, while the sound of music from within, and the glancing of
figures moving rapidly across the lights, offered links of interest
between the feelings of the crowd without and the transactions that
were passing in the building. A knot of the more curious citizens
had stationed themselves on the little rise by the fountain, and watched
eagerly the windows of the hall, where the banquet was just about to
take place ; and at length, when a loud flourish of trumpets echoed
out upon the air, some of them were heard to exclaim, "Now! now
they are coming to the tables! — See, see! they are passing along! — .
There is the Duke of Cleves ; I know him by the limp in his gait ;
and there is the President — there is the noble President! See how
he overtops them all, and how his plumes dance above the highest
in the hall ! Hurrah for the noble President !" and the multitude
catching the sound, burst forth with a loud and universal cheer, that
made the buildings around echo and re-echo with the shout.

Although, at that distance, it was difficult to distinguish the per-
sons within, yet the shout was appropriate, for it was, indeed, Albert
Maurice who — received as a guest by the states of Flanders, and the
nobles and prime burghers of Ghent — was advancing to the seat pre-
pared for him. Long consultations had been previously held in re-
gard to where that seat was to be placed ; for feudal states in general
required that a marked distinction should be observed between nobles
and citizens ; but the druggist counselled the nobles to indulge the
young citizen's pride to the utmost for that one night. The example
of Artevelde — a common tradesman of that very town, who had sat
and treated with the highest princes of Europe — was cited, and pre-
vailed; and the president of Ghent took his chair by the Duke of
Cleves, with Ganay, by a previous arrangement, seated beside him.

The face of the druggist was uncommonly pale. He had marked
the immense concourse of people in the square ; he had marked the
multitude of guards and attendants that crowded the terrace and
thronged the halls of the town-house; and he knew the infinite perils
that attended the deed he had undertaken to perform. Whatever course
events might take, he felt that fate brooded heavily over the whole
splendid scene ; and his small, clear dark eye wandered somewhat wildly
round the hall, especially as, in following Albert Maurice towards the
seat it had been arranged he was to occupy, the thundering shout of
the multitude without burst upon his ear. All, however, apparently
passed in tranquil ease ; the whole party were seated ; and the atten-
dants of the Duke of Cleves — somewhat more numerous than neces-
sary, drew round the upper end of the table. But as they did so, they
perceived that they enclosed amongst themselves two or three strange
men, against whose intrusion they remonstrated rather roughly. What
the others answered was not heard, but they kept their place, and the
banquet proceeded. Everything was rich and splendid, according to
the custom of that time ; and many a fish and many a fowl appeared
upon the table, which have either lost their palatable flavour in
latter days or have been discarded by some depravity of human
taste. Albert Maurice ate sparingly and drank little ; but he was
more gay and cheerful than, perhaps, any one had ever seen him be-
fore ; and, with the whole, there was an air of easy dignity, which
left any outward difference that might be observed between himself
and any of the nobles around, entirely to his advantage

MART Of BURGUNDY. 285

Ganay drank deep : and, as the banquet proceeded, his cheek grew
flushed, and his eye sparkled more ; but he was silent, absent, and
thoughtful, and shrunk when the eye of Albert Maurice rested on
him, even for a moment, in conversation. At length the Duke of
Cleves rose, and addressed the druggist briefly, saying, " MasteJ
Ganay, you are an orator, and I am none ; and besides, as one of the
consuls of the good town of Ghent, the task I am going to put upon
you falls more naturally to you than to me. Fill, then, yon golden
chalice to the brim, and express, if you can find language to do so, the
gratitude and admiration which the states of Flanders — nobles and
commons alike — feel for him who has won the first successes in arms
for his native country against her base invaders — successes which I
trust may be but the earnest of many more."

Ganay took the large golden cup, and held it to an officer who.
filled it with wine : but, as the druggist again brought it back, he
leaned his hand upon the edge for a moment, and something seemed,
to the eyes of more persons than one, to fall into the chalice. He rose,
however, with greater composure than he had hitherto displayed
through the evening : and with a happy flow of words, the very choice-
ness and selection of which made his speech appear far more vigorous
and enthusiastic than it really was, he commented on the talents and
successes of the young citizen, and thanked him, in the name of the
town of Ghent and the states of Flanders, for the services he had ren-
dered to his country. It is scarcely necessary, perhaps, to state that
it was the common custom of the day for a person publicly drinking
to another in such a manner, to taste the wine himself, and then to
send the cup to him whom he addressed. Ganay, accordingly, at the
end of his oration, raised the bowl to his lips, and held it there for a
moment; and then, according to form, gave it to the cupbearer, who
presented it to the young burgher. Albert Maurice, after taking
the chalice, rose at once, while the eye of the druggist fixed upon him
with a gaze, that had something almost fearful in its very intensity.

" Noble, lords," he said, in a clear, mellow, steady voice ; " noble,
lords! dear fellow citizens ! worthy men of Flanders! you have been
pleased this day to show me honours, far higher than my poor merits
gave me any title to expect. The duty of a citizen to his country is
one, which, however zealously executed, affords him no claim to
thanks ; for being an obligation imposed on him by his birth, it binds
him strictly through his life ; and even at his death, he that has done
all within his scope to uphold his native land, has still done nothing
but that which he was bound to do. Nevertheless, it is hard to say
how much I rejoice that the men of Ghent and the states of Flanders
have thought fit, by such distinguished honours, to reward such poor
services as mine. Nor, however grateful to my heart may be your
generous applause, are my feelings personal alone. I rejoice more
that you have so honoured and rewarded the £ "st man who has been
enabled to render service in arms to the state, since her restoration tc»
freedom, than that the first was Albert Maurice. I rejoice chiefly,
because I am sure that the distinction shown to me this night, un-
worthy as I am, will be the means of calling others forth in the ser-
vice of the country, whom diffidence of their own powers, or doubts
of the state's willingness to accept what they may believe inefficient
iervice, has hitherto kept back from the path of fame. Whsn a»

288 MARY OF BURGUNDY.

individual serves his country to the utmost of his power, as I havs
before said, he does but his duty to that country, and no more ; but
when the state recompenses its individual servants even beyond their
deserts, it does its duty to itself, and ensures the most zealous services
of all its children : for the men who will serve a niggard master well,
will serve a liberal one with their whole heart and soul ; and let me
say, there is a mighty difference. Men of Ghent," continued the young
President, " and you, noble barons and burghers of Flanders, I give
you all deep and heartfelt thanks ; and I drink unto you all !"

Albert Maurice had spoken calmly and collectedly, and not a word
betrayed that there was one feeling in his heart but tranquil confi-
dence. As he paused and lifted the cup in his hand, the gaze of
Ganay grew more and more intense; his pale lip quivered, and a
bright red spot glowed on his ashy cheek, while the young citizen
continued to raise the cup slowly towards his lip. Suddenly, how-
ever, Albert Maurice paused, and "turned his glance with a movement
as quick as lightning upon the druggist, into whose face the blood
rushed with fearful violence as their eyes met. Sternly and stead-
fastly the young President gazed on him, while one might count fifty,
and then tossing the cup into the midst of the hall, he exclaimed, with
a scornful laugh, " No, no! No, no! Did you dream that I did not
know you, murderer?"

"Know me now then!" cried Ganay, starting up ; "knowmenow!"
and lie sprang towards Albert Maurice like a famished tiger. But,
at that moment, the man who stood behind his chair strode forward ;
something bright waved above the druggist as he rose, descended at
once upon his head, and cleft its way through to the very eyes.

Ganay fell back from his place, dead upon the floor of the hall ;
but even as he fell, his hand, armed with a short poniard, aimed an
impotent blow at the young President, which struck ringing against
the pavement.

" Ho ! Close the doors !" cried Albert Maurice, rapidly. " Matthew
Gournay, you have done well! Let no one dare to approach tha
corpse ! Look at him as he lies, lords and free citizens ! Look at him
as he lies, with the weapon of destruction in his hand ! And you, my
friends, whom I stationed round about, did you not see him drop the
poison in the cup as clearly as I did ?"

" We did! we did! we did !" cried a dozen voices round the table;
and those who were at first inclined to look somewhat fiercely upon
these witnesses, soon perceived that the testimony came from all the
most honourable citizens of Ghent, who, forewarned, had watched the
proceedings of the druggist.

" These are bold and terrible deeds, Sir President !" said the Duke
of Cleves.

"Not so bold as some I could name, Duke of Cleves!'' replied
Albert Maurice, bending his brows sternly upon him. "The man
who lies before you has already more than one murder on his head.
There are the proofs of his participation in the death of the good old
Lord of Neufchatel, who died by poison while recovering from his
wounds. For these proofs I have to thank you, worthy and fearless
magistrate, Maitre Pierre. These, however, would have been pro-
duced before the judges of this city, had I not discovered the purpose
of this base assassin to poison me this night, and taken proper means

MARY OF BUKGUNDT. 287

to counteract his design. There are others here present, leagued in
the same evil conspiracy • and did I so please, I could name them one
by one. Look not to your attendants, Duke of Cleves ; for know, that
in this building and around it I have enough faithful friends, to bind
every traitor present hand and foot, and give them over to the com-
mon hangman, did I so will it. But fear not; I neither accuse you
nor absolve you, my lord. You came here, a guest to the city of
Ghent, and you depart unopposed, uninjured, with this warning only :
beware how you entertain a thought against the liberties of the
people. To the rest — within whose bosoms dwells the fearful con-
sciousness of their own treachery — I say only, I do not dread them ;
and from my confidence in myself and in the people of Ghent, they
find safety. Those who were moved to seek my overthrow by fears
and doubts, instilled into them by yon arch traitor who now lies dead,
will learn from my conduct this night, that I am not the man that I
have been represented; and those who, from baser motives, would
have compassed my death, may also learn, that such designs fall ever,
sooner or later, on the heads of those that framed them Those who
love me not, therefore, may depart in peace; those who love me and
Ghent, remain ; and let us finish our festivities, for the death of that
base man is no more to be noted than the shooting of a wolf, or any
other wild beast that would destroy us. Take away the corpse!"

The guests looked upon each other with inquiring glances, as they
stood around the table in the same attitudes into which they had
started, on the sudden catastrophe they had just witnessed; but few-
present were willing, by quitting the hall, to brand themselves as
enemies to Albert Maurice and to Ghent.

Good Martin Fruse was the first to resume his seat, which he did,
murmuring, " He was an unworthy man, that Ganay, and a disgrace
to the city. He nearly caused my death some twenty years ago."

Those who heard this new charge against the unhappy druggist
started, and many looked wise, and shook the sagacious head, ex-
claiming, "Ah! we always knew he was a wicked man!" but Albert
Maurice, who understood that the mode of death to which his uncle
alluded was not quite deserving of such serious comment, again called
upon those who were friends to Ghent, and to himself, to resume their
seats at once.

One after another, all the citizens, and almost all the nobles, fol-
lowed the example of good Martin Fruse. The Duke of Cleves, how-
ever, together with a few of his immediate partisans, remained standing,
and, after a brief pause, moved a step towards the door.

"It is not my custom," he said, "to sit and drink in halls where
blood has just been shed ; and without being an enemy to Ghent, or
any of her true and faithful sons, I may be pardoned for quitting a,
place, where I know not what is to happen next."

" Fortunately for myself, my lord," replied Albert Maurice, " I did
know what was intended to happen next; though, perhaps, my having
spoiled the design may be matter of offence to some here present. But
not to bandy words with so high a prince, I have only further to say,
that the citizens of Ghent have been honoured by your presence while
it has lasted, and you have, in return, been treated with a goodly and
instructive, though somewhat fearful, spectacle, showing how the men
of this city punish those who attempt to poison them at their solemn

288 MART OF BURGUNDT.

feasts. Make way for the Duke of Cleves, there!" And -with an ait
in which courtesy and grace gave additional point to the keen scorn
that curled his lip and bent his brow, Albert Maurice led the Duke
towards the door, and bowed low as he passed out.

The young President then resumed his seat ; his lip softened, his
brow unbent, and, gazing round the guests with one of those bland
smiles which often win approbation for the past, by seeming certain
of applause, he exclaimed — "Friends, have I done well?"

The man who rose to reply was one of the most zealous of that
violent party on whose support Ganay had founded his authority,
and Albert Maurice prepared for bold opposition; for he knew him to
be fierce and fearless, though honest and upright in purpose. By one
ef those sudden revolutions of feeling, however, which are common in
scenes of great excitement, the whole sentiments of the partisan had
become changed by the frank and determined demeanour of the young
citizen ; and he answered at once—" So well have you done, Sir Presi-
dent, that, in my opinion, if Ghent owed you gratitude before, that
gratitude ought now to be increased a hundred-fold r and if she sus-
pected you of any baseness, those suspicions should be done away for
ever. To many of us you have been represented as courting the
nobility for your own purposes, and seeking alone, in all you have
done, your own aggrandizement. Some of us, too — I for one," he
added, boldly — " consented to your arrest this night. I acknowledge
it; and frankly I acknowledge I was wrong. But, believe me, Sir
President, when with the same voice I declare, that, had I ever
dreamed of the scheme for murdering you here, my own knife should
first have drunk the blood of the assassin. Justly hae he been done
to death, and wisely have you treated yon proud prince, who courts
us now, only that he may first rise by us, and then crush us here-
after ; and who, as no one who saw his countenance can doubt, wa3
leagued with the dead assassin. It is the policy of those who hate
us to set us at variance amongst ourselves, and remove from us all
the men whose talents and whose firmness will enable us to triumph
still. Let us then, all pledge ourselws to union ; and, in order to
preserve hiimrho alone possesses genius and power sufficient to lead
us properly, let us give him a guard of five hundred men, and intrust
liim with greater authority than he has hitherto enjoyed."

The proposal was received with acclamation; and the citizens, some
en ;er to show that they had no participation in the plot which had
ju<t been frustrated, some carried away by the general enthusiasm,
and some from the first devoted to the young President, vied with each
other in voting him new powers and new dignities. At that moment
lie might have commanded anything in the power of the states of
Flanders to bestow; and much more was spontaneously offered than
lie thought prudent to accept. "No, no!" he said; "limit the power
you grant me to that which your fathers formerly conferred, in this
very hall, on Jacob Von Artevelde, with this further restriction, that
5 shall submit every month the revenues intrusted to my disposal to
the inspection of three persons chosen from your own body. Thus
shall I be enabled to serve you as much as man can do ; and thus will
you guard against those abuses to which the unlimited confidence of
your ancestors gave rise. Nothing more will I accept."

The will of the young citizen for the time was law, and the whole

MARY OF BURGUNDY. 289

arrangement was speedily completed. One more deep cup of red wine
each man present quaffed to the health of Albert Maurice, and then
took leave, one by one. Martin Fruse was the last that left him, and,
as he did so, the good old man wrung his hand hard. " Farewell,
Albert," he said ; " I have seen you a little child, and I have seen you
a stately man, and I have loved you better than anything else on
earth. You have now reached a dizzy height, my dear boy ; and, oh !
take care that your head do not turn giddy. For my sake, if not for
our own, take care ; for it would slay me to see your fall."

CHAPTER XXXVII.

Albert Maurice sat alone, after an evening of such fearful excite-
ment, as few have ever passed upon this earth — after having seen his
own life, and power, and hopes, in momentary danger — after having
controlled and concealed his own passions, and bridled, and governed,
and guided those of others — after having overthrown his enemies,
slain his betrayer, secured his authority, and taken all but one small
easy step to the very summit of his ambition. Oh, what a host of
mingled sensations crowded rapidly on his heart ! and how dizzily
his brain whirled for the first few brief moments, while remembrance
rapidly brought before him all the multiplied events of the last two
hours ; and out of the smoke of memory rose the giant consciousness
that he was successful — triumphantly successful!

For an instant his lip curled with a proud and satisfied smile; and
everything was forgotten, but that bright bubble — success. But, as
he sat, a sort of lassitude came over him; his eye fell casually on the
spot where the druggist Ganay had lain, convulsed in the agonies of
death; and, by a caprice of the imagination, the same face which had
then appeared streaked with ghastly blood, and contorted with the
pangs of dissolution, was presented to his memory, as he had seen it
in former days, speaking the words of hope to his own ear, and
cheering him on the path of enterprise and ambition.

Touched by the magic wand of association, the splendid objects
which he had just been contemplating began to change their form
and lose their brightness. A dull weight of thought seemed to fall
upon him, and his utmost efforts would not throw it off. It seemed
as if some fiend, in bitter mockery, resolved to conjure up the faces
of the dead, and to torture his heart with painful recollections, even,
in the hour of triumph. To the form of the druggist, next succeeded,
before the eye of fancy, that of the Duke of Gueldres, dyeing the
green sward with his blood; and then, the shifting picture of the
mind presented the same prince as when first, with buoyant joy, he
came to thank him for his liberation. Next appeared Imbercourt,
and Hugonet, bending to the stroke of the executioner : and then,
he beheld them as they had appeared at the council, when he had been
examined on the accusation of the Prevot ; while the calm, grave,
noble countenance of Imbercourt was seen pleading eagerly in excul-
pation of him who had since worked out the death 01 his defender.

"So many, in so short a time!" thought Albert Maurice. "Yet
dave they died, each for his own misdeeds ; and I have sacrificed
them — ay, and with pain — for the good of my country alone \"

He almost started at the vehemence with which conscience gave

230 MART OF EUKGUNDT.

the lie to so base a delusion. "For the good of my country alone!*
he thought again. "Nay — nay — nay — for my own ambition. What
— what act have I done yet, for the good of my country alone"? None,
alas ! none ! and even now, perhaps — even now, when ambition has
swallowed up all — when I have reached the very pinnacle of success
— perhaps the only one I have suffered to escape — perhaps yon Duke
of Cleves is even now plotting to deprive me of the only reward that
can wipe away every evil memory, repay every effort, tranquillize
every pain, and render success a blessing indeed. But he shall plot
in vain ; and if he dare to plot, by the Lord that lives, he shall die !"

"Ho! without there!" he continued, aloud. "Bring me a hat and
cloak ! Oh, good Matthew Gournay — I had forgot," he added, as he
saw who it was that answered his summons — " this very night your
noble lord shall be set free. But I must see him myself; I have
tidings for him which will glad his heart. You, too, shall not be
forgotten ; and though I know, gold can never pay such services as
yours, yet there are other means within my power. This very night
we will set free your lord. In all the turbulence of the past evening,
I had forgot what I should have remembered. No, no, boy" — he
added, to the page who brought him a high-plumed bonnet and richly
decorated cloak — " these vestments I have on are all too fine already.
I must conceal my rank — my station in the city, I should say. Get
me some servant's cloak and hat. Be quick ! 'Tis nearly ten."

The President mused thoughtfully till the boy returned ; and honest
Matthew Gournay, seeing that deep and agitating thoughts were en-
grossing all his attention, stood quietly gazing on the spot where he
had slain the unhappy Ganay, and wondering that any man should
take the trouble of poisoning another, when he might rid himself of
his enemy so easily by the dagger or the sword.

At length the hat and cloak were brought ; and Albert Maurice
drew the one round his person, and the other over his brow. " Now,
Matthew Gournay," he said, "take five-and-twenty men, and bid
them follow me by separate ways to the palace. There wait till I
come. I will be in the square almost as soon as you; and after I
have spent some ten minutes in transacting business which admits of
no delay, we will go on and liberate your good lord."

The ring which Matthew Gournay had received from his young
lord, acted with the magic effect of some talisman in an Eastern tale;
and whatever commands he received from Albert Maurice, he obeyed
at once, with unquestioning alacrity. The five-and-twenty men were
soon summoned — for the whole force of the free companions had been
poured into the town of Ghent, during the evening, by means of the
gate which, as we have seen, the followers of the President had secured
on his first entering the city. A few brief words directed them by
different ways to the palace; and — passing through the various
crowds which had been gathered together for the entertainment in
the square, and which were now discussing, in eager tones, the events
that had taken place in the town-house — the men selected to accom-
pany, or rather to follow, the young citizen, soon made their way to
the gates of the palace. That part of the town was nearly deserted,
and the little square before the Cours du Prince was void and soli-
tary, except where, nearly in the midst, a tall, dark figure, with its
Brms crossed '\pou its chest, stood gazing up at the building. All

MARY Or BURGUNDY. 251

iras quiet, and calm, and dark, along the facade of the palace, except
frhere, here and there, from some of the long narrow windows, a
stream of tremulous light broke upon the night.

For several minutes the figure continued to gaze, apparently fixing
its glance earnestly upon one part of the building. But at length
perceiving the number of soldiers collecting before the gate, Albert
Maurice — for he it was, who had outwalked his followers — advanced,
and after speaking a few words to Matthew Gournay, demanded
admission from the warder of the fortified gate. He gave his name
and station, and urged business of importance as an excuse for the
lateness of his visit. The warder replied in a tone of humble defe-
rence, which circumstances had compelled the proud soldiers of Bur-
gundy to learn in speaking to the once contemned burghers of Ghent,
telling him that he would willingly admit him, but that, as his orders
had been very strict for the last week, he must detain him at the gate
while he caused the princess to be informed of the fact.

Albert Maurice made no objection, and remained, musing with a
downcast countenance, across which the shadows of many emotions
were passing, that he would not willingly have shown to the eye of
open day. As calm and tranquil as a summer's morning, he had sat
his horse in the midst of battle and conflict. Calmly, too, he had
remained beside the man who was mixing a cup cf poison for his lip,
and preparing the dagger if the cup should fail. But now every
nerve thrilled, and his heart beat like a coward's, though he was but
to meet a fair and gentle girl, whose fate might almost be said to rest
in his own hands. He had hoped and he had dreamt, through many a
long day; and various circumstances had combined to give those
hopes and dreams a tangible foundation arid a definite form. But
now that the moment approached when they were to be realised or
destroyed for ever, they faded all away into fears and anxieties.

The warder returned and bowed lowed, while the gates were thrown
open. The soldiers within the court did military honours to the
President of Ghent ; and, assuming a firmer step and a prouder air,
Albert Maurice passed on within the precincts of the palace, followed
by the train who had met him according to his appointment. At the
entrance-hall his followers paused, and he himself, ushered forward by
one of the domestic attendants of the princess, ascended the steps
towards a smaller chamber, adjoining the great hall of audience.

In the ante-room he cast off his hat and cloak, and remained in the
rich dress in which he had descended to the banquet in the town-
house; and as he passed on towards the door which the servant threw
open, his eye fell upon a Venetian mirror, and perhaps he gained
another ray of hope from feeling that, in appearance as well as mind,
he was not unfitted to move through those lordly halls, in the high
station for which his ambition strove.

The chamber that he entered was but dimly lighted, and it was
evident that the preparations for receiving him there had only beea
made upon the sudden announcement of his arrival. His eye, how-
ever, instantly rested upon Mary of Burgundy, as she sat surrounded
by a number of her women ; and the sweet smile with which she wel-
comed him so thrilled through his heart, that he felt the resolution
which had brought him thither shaken, lest, by seeking for deeper
happiness, he should lose even the joy of that sweet smile itself.

29S MAItT OF BDRGUNDT.

"Welcome, my lord," she said, "most welcome back again to
Ghent. For though we had great joy from your victories and sue-
cesses, the first that have ever yet blessed our cause, yet we have
much needed your presence in the city."

" I hope, lady," replied the young citizen, with a tone of deep inte-
rest in all that concerned her immediate happiness, "I hope that you
have suffered no personal annoyance ; for, believe me, before I went
I took every means to guard you from the importunity of the Duka
of Gueldres or the intrusion of any one else."

"From the Duke of Gueldres," replied Mary, "who, I hear,
unhappy man, has fallen in some of the late conflicts, I have, indeed,
suffered nothing ; nor have I truly to complain of any one else.
Though my good cousin of Cleves does, perhaps, press me somewhat
unkindly to a union, which is little less fearful in my eyes than the
other. Doubtless, he deems it for my good, and strong are the reasons
he urges ; but having taken on myself to decide, and having told him
that decision, I would fain be spared all further discussion."

The cheek of Albert Maurice reddened with anger ; and he an-
swered hastily, "Fear not, dear lady; his importunities shall not
press upon your Grace much longer. The city of Ghent and the
states of Flanders have this night armed me, thank God ! with suffi-
cient power to sweep — to — to "

Albert Maurice paused and hesitated ; for the bold and ambitious
words that had been just springing to his lips, he felt must not be
rashly uttered in the ear of one whose love was to be gained and
fixed, and whose hand, although it was the crowning object of all his
ambition, though it was the motive for every energy and endeavour
of his bosom, would at once become vain and valueless, if unaccom-
panied by her heart. He paused, and then continued, " have armed
me with sufficient power, at once, to guide the state, I trust, to per-
manent security and peace ; and to sweep away from your domestic
life every pain, anxiety, and fear."

The last words were spoken low and slowly ; and as he pronounced
them, he dropped his eyes to the ground ; while the warm conscious
blood rose up into his cheeks, and spoke far more than his lips. The
words he uttered, it is true, had no very definite meaning, and might
be taken up in a very general sense ; but the tone, the manner, the
hesitation, the flushing of the cheek, the timid glance of the eye, gave
emphasis and purpose to the whole. For the first time, a suspicion
of what was passing in his bosom flashed across the mind of Mary of
Burgundy, and inspired her, for the moment, with a feeling of terror
which approached very nearly to despair. She turned deadly pale,
and trembled violently, as, with rapid thought, she ran over the cir-
cumstances of her situation, and found how helpless she was, if that
suspicion were well founded. It was but for an instant, however, that
she gave way to apprehension. From the first, she had appreciated
the general character of Albert Maurice, especially its finer points,
by a sort of instinctive comparison witli her own. She knew that he
was generous, high-spirited, noble-minded ; and, though she might
now find that her estimate of his ambition had been far below that
which it should have been, yet site trusted to the better parts of his
disposition to deliver her from the consequences of the worse. She
knew that she was in his power. She felt that his will waa law, in

MART CP BURGUNDY. 293

all tne country that surrounded her ; and that, if he chose, he could
blast her hopes and happiness for ever. But, at the same time, she
felt there was some resource, though the only one, in the native gene-
rosity of his heart ; and she determined to appeal to it boldly as her
sole refuge from despair. It is true that a union with Albert Mau-
rice, whose splendid qualities she could not but acknowledge, might,
were such feelings susceptible of any very marked shades of differ-
ence, and had it been possible for her to dream for one moment of sucl(
a union, might have been less repugnant to her, than the marriages
which had been proposed with the drivelling boy of France, with the
coarse and brutal son of the Duke of Cleves, or with the cruel and
unnatural Duke of Gueldres. But still, the simple fact existed, she
loved another with all the deep sincerity of a woman's first affection,
and the very thought of any other alliance was abhorrent to every
feeling of her heart.

Nothing could have balanced those feelings in her bosom, but her
strong sense of duty to the nation she was called upon to govern and
protect. She could, indeed, and would have sacrificed everything for
her country and her people ; but that people themselves had rejected
the only alliance that could have benefitted them : and, in the pre-
sent instance, no such object could have been gained by her marriage
with the President of Ghent, as that which the French alliance might
have accomplished, even could she have entertained the thought of
bestowing the hand of the heiress of Burgundy on an adventurous
and aspiring citizen, a thought from which all Mary's feelings re-
volted, not the less strongly for the natural gentleness of her charac-
ter. Had time for reflection been added, the discovery or the suspi-
cion of his love might have afforded a key to all the conduct of the
young citizen, and, by showing to what deeds his passion had already
betrayed him, might have increased a thousand-fold the terror of the
unhappy princess ; but, luckily, the consideration of her own situa-
tion, and of the means of averting the consequences she dreaded, en-
grossed her wholly, and thus guarded her from worse apprehensions.

The first effect of his speech, and of the sudden conviction which
his manner, more than his words, produced, was, as we said, to turn
her deadly pale ; and while a thousand new anxieties and painfuj
considerations crossed her mind, she remained gazing on him so long,
in silence, that she felt he must see that he was understood. The
silence of her own embarrassment then becoming painful to her, as
well as to him, the blood rushed up into her face, and yet she could
not reply ; so that both remained completely mute for several mo-
ments, after words had been spoken, which, to the by-standers,
seemed perfectly simple.

At length she answered — " Oh ! Sir President, if such power has
been granted to you by the states, use it nobly, and Heaven will
bless you."

" As far, lady, as my poor judgment can extend, I will use it
nobly," replied Albert Maurice, over whose heart an icy chill had
come, he knew not well why. "But," he added, "as I would fain
use it for your happiness — believing it to be inseparable from that of
the people — let me crave a few words with you in private, that I may
ascertain more fully how that happiness may be best consulted."

He spoke slowly and calmly ; but, from the quivering of his lip, it

294 MARY OF BUEGUNDT.

was evident that each -word cost him a painful struggle to pronounca.
On the other hand, Mary was herself embarrassed by his request,
which was not a little contrary to the etiquette of her situation ; and
yet he who requested, she knew might command, and she felt that,
perhaps, it might be better for both that they should be alone.

After a moment's pause, then, she gave the necessary order for he*
attendants to withdraw into the ante-chamber, and then resumed her
seat. Albert Maurice stood beside her, with his eyes still bent upon
t he ground ; and for a moment, after the suite had quitted the cham-
b er, he remained silent, striving to master all the emotions which
w ere agitating his heart. It was a painful struggle, but at length
h e succeeded ; and then raising his head with some degree of proud
consciousness in his aspect, he looked calmly on the princess.

" Madam," he said, in a firmer voice than he had hitherto com-
manded, " your general welfare, and that of your people, is undoubt-
edly one great, and ought to be one paramount, object with me in
all I strive for; but, at the same time, believe me — oh, believe
me ! that your individual happiness is no less a deep and overpower-
ing consideration in my mind. Lady, I know, and feel painfully,
that the great difference of rank and station between us, may pre-
vent you from conceiving fully how dear your interests are to me.
Nay, turn not pale, madam!" he added, with watchful and somewhat
irritable pride, softened by deep and sincere affection — " Nay, turn
not pale ! No word shall you hear from my lips, that may offend
your ear or wound your heart. Lady, the ambitious, misproud citi-
zen may have as elevated, perhaps more devoted, ideas of true affec-
tion, than the noble, whose pride and arrogance are his right of birth ;
and may be able to crush his own heart, to sacrifice more than life — ■
hope, blessed hope itself, to serve the being that he loves. And do
you weep ?" he continued, seeing the tears roll rapidly over the fair
cheek of Mary of Burgundy. " And do you weep ? Then I have said
too much. Yet, hear me a little. I see you agitated, far more
agitated than anything which has passed hitherto should have occa-
sioned, unless the words we have spoken, whose import seems but
small, may have touched some fine strung cord within your heart, and
made sadder music than I dreamed of. However, in this land of
Flanders I have now no small power, which may last God knows how
long. But fear not that the power I do possess will ever be used to
thwart one wish of your heart. Whatever it may cost me, it shall be
employed to serve you with deep and true attachment. There is,"
he added, his emotion almost mastering his calmness; "there is one
question I would ask, which is hard to put, and may be painful to an-
swer. Yet, let me speak it quickly and briefly, lest I should fail."

He paused for a moment, and looked down, while his hand became
clenched fearfully tight, as if in the struggle to suppress some deep
feelings that would fain have burst forth, but, after a single moment,
all was again vanquished, and he proceeded: — "Some months have
now passed since your father's eyes were closed in death, your
dominions are invaded, your people are distracted by different parties,
and your nobles are leaguing together to snatch one from another
the blessing of your hand. It is time, lady, that you should make a
choice ; and although I know no one, on all the earth, that is worthy
of the happiness within your gift, yet, if there be any one to whom

WAllT OF BURGUNDY. Kfj,

you can give your heart, I will — I will — Yes!" he added, more
firmly, " I will do all that mortal man can do, to render you happy in
your love!" He paused; and although an undefinable something in
the conduct and demeanour of Mary of Burgundy through that night,
had already shown him that one half of his dreams were dreams in-
deed, yet hope — persevering hope — lingered still, and whispered, " If
she love none else, she may still be mine."

Mary of Burgundy's conduct was already determined, but never-
theless she trembled in every limb, and long, long was it ere she could
reply. At length she answered — "You have, indeed, put to me a
question, which makes me feel most painfully how different is the
station of princes from the happy and modest retirement of private
life. Nay, do not think I blame you, sir ; I blame but my hard fate.
You are most kind ; and, amidst a base and interested crowd, who
would fain make me the slave of their wild ambitions, I shall ever
remember you with gratitude, as the only one — who — with more
power than all the rest to command my fate, was willing to cast self
away, and — and to seek my happiness alone. Feeling thus ; believ-
ing from my heart that in your generous nature I may perfectly rely,
I answer your question as distinctly as it is put. There is, I believe,
but one man to whom I can conscientiously give my hand. 'Tis
now near two years ago, that, by my father's command, I plighted
my faith in writing, and pledged thereto a ring, to one, whom I had
been taught, during some months of happy intimacy, to look upon
as my future lord — Maximilian, Archduke of Austria — "

"And you love him! and you love him!" cried Albert Maurice,
starting forward, and, forgetful of all restraint, grasping her firmly
by the wrist. The princess started up alarmed, and a cry of terror
at his sudden vehemence, had nearly passed her lips. But she stifled
it ere it was uttered; and the next moment Albert Maurice had
recovered himself, and was kneeling at her feet.

" Pardon me ! pardon me, Princess of Burgundy I" he said. " Give
me, oh, give me your forgiveness ! The dream is gone, the vision is
over, and Albert Maurice, the humblest of your subjects, is ready to
pour out his blood to atone for all that he has done amiss. Madam,"
he added, rising, " I have been living in a dream ; and, I fear me,
when I come to look upon it steadily, I shall find it a sad ut

no more of that : at present I am, if that be not a dream also, Presi-
dent of the states general of Flanders, and armed with greater power
than any other man in the land. What can I do to sweep all obsta-
cles from before your wishes ? Tell me quickly how I can serve you.
Let me at least work out your happiness, before the memory of the
past turn my brain."

"Oh, speak not so wildly, sir!" cried Mary. "You have great
powers and noble energies, which will guide you to the height of
fame ; and yet, I trust, to the height of happiness. Indeed, sir, I
cannot speak farther, while you seem so moved."

" Madam, I am perfectly calm," replied Albert Maurice. " Those
energies and those powers your Grace is pleased to speak of, may last
a longer or a shorter time, according to God's will; and I am most
anxious to wipe out any offence I have committed, by employing
them vigorously in your service. Let me beseech you to speak. Shall
I send off immediate messengers to the Aichdukef"

230 MAB1T OF B0KGONDT-

"No, no! Oh, no!" cried Mary; "I fear too much has been dona
already in that course, by my kind step-dame, the Duchess Margaret,
and my good cousin of Ravestein ; for I hear — for I hear — that the
Archduke is already on his way to Brussels."

" Ha !" cried Albert Maurice ; " ha !" but he said no more, and the
princess proceeded.

" Yet, sir," she said, " I have many fears ; for I know that the Duke
of Cleves has not only sent forth messengers to forbid his approach^
but also I learn from my dear foster-sister, Alice of Imbercourt, who
is now with the good Lord of Hannut, that a hundred men, bearing
the colours of the house of Cleves, have passed through Brussels ; and,
there is reason to believe, they waylay the road from the Ehine."

"Indeed! This must be seen to!" said the young citizen, in the
same abstracted manner. " But your Grace was about to add "

" Merely this, sir," replied Mary, with that calm, impressive gentle-
ness, that is more touching than any vehemence ; " that the man to
whom I believe myself plighted by every tie but the final sanction
of the church, is, I am told, on his road hither, slenderly accompanied
— for the avarice of the emperor is well known ; and his son now
journeys with hardly ten attendants. He has strong enemies on the
way ; and I leave you to judge, sir, of the feelings that I experience."

The lip of Albert Maurice quivered ; but he still retained command
over himself, and replied in a low but distinct voice, though, in every
tone, the vehement struggle he maintained to master the agony of his
heart was still apparent : " To calm those feelings, madam, shall be
my first effort ; and, as I have received timely information, entertain
not the slightest apprehension of the result. I will serve you, madam,
more devotedly than I would serve myself ; and the last energies that,
possibly, I may ever be able to command, shall be directed to secure
your happiness. I have now detained you long. Night wears, and
time is precious. I humbly take my leave. May Heaven bless you,
madam ! May Heaven bless you ! and send you happier days to shine
upon your reign than those with which it has begun."

He bowed low, and took two or three steps towards the door, while
Mary gazed upon him with eyes in which compassion, for al^ she saw
that he suffered, and woman's invariable sympathy with love, called
up an unwilling tear. " Stay, sir, one moment," she said at length ;
" it may be the last time that ever I shall have the power to thank
you, as Duchess of Burgundy, before I resign my sovereignty with my
hand to another. Believe me, then, that as far as the gratitude of a
princess towards a subject can extend, I am grateful to you for all that
you have done in my behalf. Believe me, too, that I admire and es-
teem the great qualities of your mind, and that I will, as far as in me
lies, teach my husband" — and she laid a stress upon the word — "to
appreciate your talents and your virtues, and to honour and employ
them for our common benefit. Take this jewel, I beseech you," she
added, " and wear it ever as a token of my gratitude."

" Oh ! madam !" exclaimed Albert Maurice, as he advanced to re-
ceive the diamond she proffered. He took it slowly and reverentially ;
but as her hand resigned it, his feelings overpowered him, and pressing
the jewel suddenly to his heart, he exclaimed, " I will carry it to my
grave !" Then turning, without further adieu, he threw open the door
and quitted the apartment.

MART OF BURGUNDY. 297

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

Painful and terrific as Lad been the struggle in the bosom of Albert
Maurice, while he remained in the presence of the Princess, his feelings
had been light and sunshiny compared with those which he experienced
when he found himself alone with the deep gloom — the dull, immovable
despair, which at once took possession of his heart, the moment that
thought had an opportunity to rest upon his own situation. We have be-
fore seen that remorse was already busy in his bosom ; and the only shield
that guarded him from the lash of his own reflections, had been the
bright surpassing hope of overcoming all the mighty obstacles before him,
and winning her he loved. But now he had triumphed over every enemy
— he had overleaped every barrier — he had set his foot upon every ob-
stacle, and, in the end, discovered that she loved another — that all was
useless he had done — that the blood he had shed, had been shed in vain —
that he had forgotten his country and her rights — that he had forgotten
justice and humanity — that he had yielded himself entirely to ambition,
and consigned himself to remorse for ever — for a dream that was gone.
ftor was this all ; the same deep, fiery, passionate love remained in his
heart, but was now doomed, instead of the bright follower of hope, to
become the sad companion of remorse and despair. When he thought of
the future — when she should become the bride of another — he felt his
brain reel under the agony of that contemplation. When he thought of
the past, he felt that the gnawing worm was for ever destined to prey
upon his heart. There was no refuge for him in all time, to which he
could fly for relief. The gone hours were full of reproach, and the ap-
proaching ones were all bitterness.

Such were his f eelings as he strode along the passages of the palace at
Ghent ; and the incoherent words that he muttered to himself, as he pro-
ceeded, showed how terrible had been their effect already upon his bright
and powerful mind. "They have been murdered in vain," he muttered —
"they have been murdered in vain. Their blood cries up to heaven
against me. To see her in the arms of another — oh God ! oh God ! But
she shall be happy. Yes, she shall be happy. I will provide for his
safety, as a brother, and she shall be happy ; and I ? — and I ? Why, thero
is the grave — that is one resource, at least !" and suddenly he burst into
% low, involuntary laugh, which made him start even as it rang upon his
own ear. "Am I insane?" he thought; "then I must be speedy, lest
the power fail me." And again muttering disjointed sentences, he pro-
ceeded down the great staircase, and was passing through the entrance-
hall, without noticing any one, when Matthew Gournay advanced to his
aide and stopped him.

' ' There is no time to be lost, sir," he said ; "let us hasten quick. "

' ' Who are you ? " demanded Albert Maurice, gazing vacantly upon him.
"Oh, yes! I had forgot," he added, recalling his thoughts. "Other
things were pressing on my mind. We will go presently, but I must first
return to the town-house ; and yet that square — I love not to pass that
square, where they were beheaded."

"You have no time, sir," replied the old soldier, in a tone which again
recalled Albert Maurice to the present moment. " As I sat here but now,
that evil Prevot — that Maillotin du Bac — passed through the hall, with

298 MARY OP BURGUNDY.

several others, speaking eagerly of you. His eye fell upon me, and h«
may chance to know me well. At all events, he was silent instantly; but,
if I am not very wrong, indeed, he has taken his way towards the prison,
where my young lord lies ; and, perchance, if we be not quick, we may
come too late.

" You speak true ; lead on !" cried Albert Maurice, roused to the ex-
ertion of all his powers by the sudden call upon his energy. ' ' You,
young man, run as for your life to the town-house ! Bid the commander
of the burgher guard march a hundred men instantly down to the Prevot's
prison, near the gates. But who have we here ?" he added, as a man in
breathless haste ran up the steps into the hall. " The lieutenant of the
Prevot, as I live ! How now, sir ! whom seek you 2"

"You, Sir President," replied the man, at once. " You once saved me
when I was in imminent peril ; and I now think that the news I bring
may be valuable to you. The prisoner who was made in the market-place —
the Vert Gallant of Hannut — men say you owe him something, and would '
fain repay it. But, if you hasten not your steps, you will come too late.
I have done what I can to delay the Prevot, but he is now speeding on to
the prison. His purpose is against the life of the prisoner ; and his horses
are ready to fly from Ghent for ever."

"Enough, enough!" said Albert Maurice, passing him suddenly, anl
springing down the steps of the palace. The active exertion of Ms cor-
poreal powers seemed to give back to Albert Maurice full command of his
mental ones, at least for the time ; and though his thoughts were charac-
terized by the darkest and sternest despair, they wandered not from those
points to which he strove to bend them, and he seemed revolving eagerly
some plan of future conduct. "Yes," he said, half aloud, as he strode
on, " yes ! so shall it be ! If I am in time, he shall conduct the rest ;
and, ere all be finished, the world may know that there were some drops
of Roman blood even within this bosom."

Almost as he spoke he turned the corner of a street, which led directly
towards the Alost gate. Fifty yards farther stood a small stone building,
known as the Prevot's prison, in which he lodged any newly-arrested pri-
soners, previous either to their immediate execution or to their removal to
some other place of confinement. The street was all dark, and likewise
solitary, except where — the upper stories, as was often customary in
Ghent, protruded considerably beyond the lower ones — stood four or five
men, holding saddled horses, and conversing together in a low tone.

The impatient stamping of their steeds had prevented them from catch-
ing the approaching steps of Albert Maurice and his party ; and one waa
eaying to the other, at the very moment they came up, in a tone suffi-
ciently loud for his word to be distinguished — "He is very long ! I never
knew him so long about such a job before."

"Let them be seized !" exclaimed Albert Maurice, the instant his eye
fell upon them ; "the rest follow me ;" and without waiting to notice the
short scuffle that ensued, he sprang on towards the Prevot's prison, and
pushed against the door. It was locked, and the key on the inner side,
so that his effort to open it was vain.

"Fly to the gate !" he exclaimed, turning to one of his followers ;
" bring me a battle-axe from the guard -house. Ho! within there I" he
added, striking the hilt of his sword violently against the door. "Open
the door ; beware what you do ; you cannot escape me, and you shall find
my vengeance terrible. Open the door, I say !"

MART OF BtmGUNDY. 299

But he spoke in vain ; no answer was returned, and the only sound
that he even thought he heard was that of a low groan. After a few
moments of painful expectation, the man who had "been sent to the gate
returned, bearing a ponderous axe, and followed by two or three of the
soldiers of the guard.

Albert Maurice snatched the weapon from his hands, and in three blows
dashed in a large part of the door. The rest was soon hewn down, at
least sufficiently to admit the passage of the young burgher and his fol-
lowers. Entering the small stone hall into which it opened, he caught up
a light that had evidently been burning some time untrimmed, and com-
manding two or three of those who accompanied him to guard the door,
he strode forward rapidly to the mouth of a narrow flight of steps, which
led to some cells below the ground. At the entrance of one of these
dungeons a lantern had been placed upon the ground, and was still burn-
ing ; and Albert Maurice immediately perceived that the door was not
completely closed. He instantly pushed it open, and held up the light,
when the sight that presented itself to his eyes was horrible indeed, but
not ungrateful.

Seated upon the side of the straw pallet, which had been his only couch
since he had been removed from the town-house, appeared Hugh de Mort-
mar, as we have previously called him, with his right foot pressed heavily
upon the body of a man, who, from his dress and appearance, seemed to
be one of the jailers in the employ of the Prevot. A little to the right,
surrounded by a pool of blood, a stream of which was still flowing from
his throat — lay the form of Maillotin du Bac, while the poniard, which, it
may be remembered, Albert Maurice had bestowed upon Hugh de Mortmar
in the prison of the town-house, now driven tightly in between the gorget
plaits and cuirass of the Prevot' s armour, showed at once the manner of
his death and the arm which had inflicted it.

The young prisoner held in his hand the sword of the dead man, and
gazed upon those who entered with a firm and resolute countenance, while
he held down beneath his feet the form of the jailer, who was clearly
alive and seemingly uninjured, except from a ghastly contusion on his
forehead. The moment that he beheld who were the new comers, Hugh
de Mortmar started up ; and a few hurried words explained the precise
situation in which they all stood. The sight of Albert Maurice and of
good old Matthew Gkmrnay was enough to satisfy the young prisoner ; and
on his part he had only to tell them, that while lying there a few minutes
before, thinking of when his captivity might end, he had heard approach-
ing steps, and listened to a low conversation at the door, which he felt
sure boded him no good. Affecting to sleep, he remained perfectly quiet,
while the door opened, and the Prevot, setting down his lantern on the
outside, approached towards him, accompanied by the jailer who had
the care of the prison. Their eyes, however, were not so much accus-
tomed to the darkness as his own ; and seeing evidently that the design
of the Prevot was to despatch him, he watched his moment, till the other
was stooping over him, and then drove the dagger with which he had been
furnished, with the full force of recovered health and strength, under the
gorget of the murderer. So hard had he stricken it, however, between
the iron plates, that he could not draw it forth again, and he had nothing
to trust to but his own corporeal strength in the struggle which succeeded
with the jailer. The hard food and the constrained repose to which he
Lad been subjected in the prison, had perhaps contributed to restore him

300 MART OF BURGUNDY.

to full vigour in a shorter time than might otherwise have been required
for recovering his health; and the jailer, over-matched, had just been
cast headlong to the ground, when Albert Maurice forced his way into the
place of the young noble's confinement.

In the energy of action Albert Maurice had, for the time, found relief
from a part of the heavy load that passion and circumstances had piled
upon Ms head ; but the moment the necessity of active exertion passed
away, the weight returned and crushed him to the earth. He spoke for
an instant to the prisoner collectedly and calmly, but gradually his brow
grew dark and clouded, and his words became low, harsh, and confined to
those necessary to express his wishes or commands. The jailer, freed
from the tread of Hugh de Mortmar, was placed in the custody of some
of those who had now crowded to the spot ; and the President, after giving
general orders to the burgher guard which came up, and a few whispered
directions to Matthew Gournay, took the prisoner by the hand, saying,
41 Come, my lord ; let us to the town-house !"

The change which had come over the whole demeanour of the young
citizen since last he had seen him, was too great to escape the eyes of
Hugh de Mortmar, even at a moment when the excitement of a late strug-
gle was fresh upon him. Nor did he exactly understand how the young
President dared to take the bold step of setting him free at once, when he
had before seemed most anxious to proceed with scrupulous caution. He
made no observation, however, and followed Albert Maurice into the
street. By this time, almost all the respectable citizens of Ghent were in
their quiet beds ; but a number of those who had been entertained in the
market-place were still wandering about, some partially inebriated with
ale or mead, some half drunk with excitement and pleasure. A number
of these had gathered together amongst the guards and attendants, now
collected round the door of the prison ; and as Albert Maurice led forth
his companion, and the flickering glare of a number of lanterns and
torches showed the features of the President to the crowd, he was greeted
(by loud acclamations. But the smile of bitterness and scorn with which
Albert Maurice now heard the vivats of the multitude, contrasted strongly
with his demeanour in the morning, and showed how completely the talis-
manic touch of disappointment had changed to his eyes all the fairy
splendours of his fate.

Without a word of reply he passed through the midst of the crowd,
sought the narrowest and darkest way, and, apparently buried in sad
thoughts, proceeded with a quick and irregular step towards the town-
house, maintaining a gloomy and unbroken silence as he went. He
avoided the market-place before the building as much as possible ; and
the only words he spoke, were uttered when he could not avoid seeing the
spot where Imbercourt and Hugonet had died, and which was now covered
with people, busily removing the traces of the evening's festivity. "It
is sad," he said, with a mournful shake of the head ; "it is sad !" Then
turning into the town-house, he ascended the stairs rapidly, and entered a
small withdrawing room by the side of the great hall.

To that very chamber it so happened that the body of Ganay had been
removed, after the sword of Matthew Gournay had left him lifeless on
the pavement ; and the first object that met the eye of Albert Maurice
was the corpse stretched upon a table, while one of his own attendants
stood near, as if he had been examining the appearance of the dead man.
The immediate impulse of the President was to draw back, but the next

MABT OF BUKGUHDT. 301

was the very contrary ; and, again advancing, he approached directly to
the table, and fixed his eyes upon the face of the corpse, which was un-
covered. "He sleeps calm enough !" he said, drawing in his lips, and
turning partially to Hugh de Mortmar. "He sleeps calm enough, with
all his burning passions at an end. But this is no place for what we have
to say." He was then treading hack his steps towards the door, when the
attendant advanced, and gave him a packet of papers and a small silver
box, saying, "These old papers, sir, and this box, which we conceive to
contain poison, are all that we have discovered on the dead body."

"Ha ! will the means of death lie in so small a space?" said Albert
Maurice, gazing on the little silver case; " but 'tis well ! Bring hence
the lights, leave the body, and lock the door. He will not find solitude
oppressive, I doubt not ;" and thus saying, he led the way into another
chamber, to which the servant followed with the key and lights ; and the
President added, as they were set down before him, "Bring wine !"

When the man was gone, and he was seated with the young cavalier,
he leaned his brow upon his hand for a moment, and then looked up,
" Grive me your pardon, sir," he said ; " give me your pardon for a short
space. I am somewhat ill to-night, and must collect my thoughts, before
I can speak to you as I ought."

Hugh de Mortmar bowed his head ; and wine being brought in a few
minutes, Albert Maurice filled for both, and drained his own cup to the
dregs. " I have a burning thirst upon me," he said, "but it will soon
be quenched. Now, sir;i I can speak. You have recovered, I trust, your
full strength ; and this night — that is to say, ere dawn — can ride forth
away from the thraldom of this place ?"

"As well as e'er I rode in life," replied Hugh de Mortmar, "and thank
you deeply for your kind intentions."

"Thank not me," replied Albert Maurice, gravely, "for I am about,
like a true citizen," he added, with a bitter smile, "for I am about ti
drive a hard bargain with you, and to make you agree to do me a service
in return — not for giving you your liberty, for you did the like to me-
but for some intelligence I have to communicate, which may be worth its
weight in gold. Of that hereafter. First, let us speak of the service X
require. You have at this moment, within the walls of the city, where I
have given them employment during this evening, some three or four
hundred free companions — good soldiers, levied for purposes I know and
respect. In an hour's time they will be mounted, and at the Alost gate,
from which we have just come. You shall have arms that might grace a
prince, a horse as noble as ever was bestrode by knight ; and what I re-
quire is this — that, all other matter laid aside, you ride forward towards
Brussels, and thence onward, on whatever road you may find necessary —
as you will there discover from the Lord of Ravestein, or the Duchess
Dowager — in order to meet Maximilian, Archduke of Austria."

" What ! my best friend and old companion in arms ! " cried Hugh de
Mortmar. "No evil against him, Sir President! for know, I would
sooner bear to my grave the heaviest chains that ever shackled man, than
raise an arm against one I love so well."

"Fear not, my lord !" replied Albert Maurice. "For his safety, not
for his injury, would I have you set out. Tell him from me, Albert
Maurice, that his way is beset ; tell him that every artifice will be used
to make him turn back, by fair means or by foul. But bid him hasten
forward, in spite of all j and you, on your part, promise me, never to qui*

302 MAKY OF BUKGUNDY.

him till you see him safely within the gates of the duke's house us
Ghent."

"Willingly ! most willingly !" replied the young cavalier, rising. "3
am ready to set out !"

"What, without the tidings I have promised?" demanded Albert
Maurice.

" Some other time !" replied Hugh de Mortmar. "When I return will
do."

" The present moment is yours," answered the young citizen, gravely.
' ' Who can say that, by the time you return, these lips may not be closed
by a seal that no human hand can ever remove !"

"I trust not," replied the other ; "I trust not ; but if what you have
to tell be really of importance, let me beseech you to speak it quickly."

"I will," replied Albert Maurice. " I have no right, nor any wish, to
Keep you in suspense. Are you aware that Adolphus, Duke of Gueldres, is
dead ?"

"Good God !" exclaimed the young cavalier. "They told me that he
was quite well, and leading the forces of Ghent against Tournay. You
have, indeed, ended my suspense somewhat abruptly."

" There is still more to come," said Albert Maurice, with a sort of reck-
less harshness which was no part of his natural character, but which pro-
bably arose from the apathetic callousness of despair. ' ' As you knew
not that he was dead, you know not that this arm slew him."

"Ha !" cried the other, instinctively laying his hand upon his side, as
if to grasp the hilt of his sword. " You— you ! Did you shed my
father's blood ? Then, take heed to yourself. Call again for your jailers!
Cast me back into the dungeon, for otherwise your blood must answer for
that which you have spilt."

" Such threats," answered Albert Maurice, " are worse than vain, to
one who loves life too little to care who takes it from him. Besides, they
are prompted by a mere dream of the imagination, which I can dissolve
by two or three words. You had never seen the Duke of Gueldres from
your childhood ; no sweet reciprocations of domestic love had bound your
heart to his ; you knew that he was vicious, criminal, unfeeling. Nay,
frown not, sir, but hear me. You know all this ; and yet, because you
believe him to have been your father, you would slay any one that raised
a hand against him."

Doubtless, there is inherent in human misery a desire of seeing others
wretched when we are wretched ourselves ; and the sort of painful playing
with the feelings of the young cavalier, in which Albert Maurice indulged
at a moment when he himself was plunged in the gloomiest despair, pro-
bably arose from some such cause. His own griefs, however, were too
great to suffer his mind to dwell long upon anything without weariness ;
and he tired almost instantly of the topic.

" Too much of this !" he added, in the same abrupt tone. " Be your
feelings on those points rational or not, no tie, human nor divine, binds you
to love or to avenge Adolphus, the bad Duke of Gueldres. Know, that
at his instigation, the man whose corpse you saw but now, kindled the
flames of Lindenmar, in which the infant heir of Hannut was supposed to
have perished ; and farther know, that in the act of death, the Duke of
Gueldres confessed to me, that he himself carried away the infant, and
reared him as his son, upon the death of his own child. You are that
boy ; but you will want other proofs to establish_the facts — there they are,

MART OS BURGUNDY. 303

in writing ; and probably these papers, which you saw me receive but now,
may throw some farther light upon the matter. We have neither of ua
time to examine them more particularly at present. Take them with you,
and claim your right of birth. Now follow me to the armoury, for I bear
your band passing onwards towards the Alost gate to wait your coming.
Are you strong enough to go ?"

The young cavalier gazed for a moment in his face, bewildered by all he
heard ; but then replied, ' ' I am ready ! quite ready ! For these papers I
owe you a thousand thanks ; but the tidings you have given confound me,
and I have not words — "

" No more ! no more !" replied Albert Maurice. " Here is our way."

The young citizen now led his companion forward to the armoury, which
had been collected in the town-house, under his own care. As they went,
the liberated prisoner would fain have asked a thousand questions explana-
tory of the strange tidings he had just received ; but the answers of
Albert Maurice were brief, and somewhat sharp. Keferring him entirely
to the papers that he had received, the young citizen strode onward, and
saw the Vert Gallant of Hannut equip himself once more in a complete
suit of arms. There was a degree of joy in the countenance of the young
heir of Hannut as he did so — a sort of new lighting up of that military
hope which was the great inspiration of the day — that called a melancholy
smile even to the lip of Albert Maurice ; and he gazed upon him, as with
quick and dexterous hands he clothed his powerful limbs in steel, as an
old man on the verge of the tomb might be supposed to regard a youth
setting out upon the flowery path of life, full of all those bright aspira-
tions that had passed away from himself for ever. When it was all done ;
" Your horse," said the young citizen, " stands below ; but yet one mo-
ment. A pass must be written for yourself and the Archduke. Follow
me once more."

In the next chamber were implements for writing ; and, with a rapid
hand, Albert Maurice traced the necessary order, destined to remove all
petty obstacles from the path of his princely rival, signed his name below,
in a bold, free hand, and gave it to his companion with a proud, but bitter
gmile.

"There," he said, "take it, and go forth ; and may God speed you on
your errand ! Forgive me if I have sported with your feelings this night,
which may be I have done in some degree, but there is a potent demon in
my heart just now, that strives hard to crush each noble wish and kindly
feeling, ere they can rise. Now, farewell !"

" Farewell ! farewell !" replied Hugh of Hannut. " I may, perhaps,
want more information than these papers contain. But we shall meet
again !"

" Perhaps we may," returned Albert Maurice, as the other turned, and
descended the steps. "Perhaps we may," he repeated, as, after a mo-
ment's pause, he heard the trampling of horse, announcing that the other
had departed — "perhaps we may, in the grave, or, rather, beyond it."

The young President then returned to the chamber in which he had been
sitting, and continued for about an hour engaged in writing. When he
had concluded, he buried his eyes in his hands for a few moments, and
remained plunged in deep thought. Rousing himself, he raised a lamp,
and striding across the passages to the room where the corpse of Granay
the druggist lay, he threw open the door, and gazed upon the countenance
of the dead man for some time.

304 MARY OF BURGUNDY.

"Without a word, lie then walked back to the chamber where he had been
writing, and drawing forth the small silver box which had been given him,
poured the white powder that it contained into one of the cups, added a
little wine from the tankard, and drank off the mixture. After which he
cast himself into a chair, and closed his eyes. For several minutes he re-
mained in the same position, without a muscle of his face being moved ;
but at length he opened his eyes, looking somewhat fiercely round the
chamber.

"This is too much !" he exclaimed aloud. " It has no effect ! and I
lie here, expecting death, without a chance of his approach, while the past
haunts me, and there seem voices crying up for judgment upon me from
that accursed square. But I will soon end all !" and starting up, he drew
his dagger from the sheath ; but as he did so, something in the word judg-
ment appeared to seize upon his imagination. "Judgment !" he said —
"judgment ! Am I not flying to judgment ?" and laying down the dagger
on the table, he paused, gazing round with a degree of fearful bewilder-
ment in his eyes, which seemed to show either that his mind was shaken,
or that some potent destroyer was mastering the body. "Judgment !" he
repeated. ' ' Were it not better to wait till I am summoned, to strive to
wipe out the evil, and to bear the sorrows that God has given as a punish-
ment for all that I have done, and left undone ? Judgment ! — Judg-
ment !" But, as he repeated that awful word, his cheek grew deathly
pale ; cold drops of perspiration stood upon his forehead, his lips became
nearly livid ; and the rich curls of his dark hair, as if relaxed by the over-
powering weakness that seemed coming over his whole frame, fell wild and
floating upon his brow. At first, apparently unconscious of the change
that was taking place, he leaned his hand upon the table to steady himself
as he stood ; but the moment after, two or three sharp shudders passed
over his whole frame ; and after reeling painfully for an instant, he cast
himself back into the chair, exclaiming, in a tone full of despair, indeed,
" It is too late ! it is too late !" and he threw himself to and fro in rest-
less agony.

" This is vain !" he cried, at length, opening his eyes. "This is weak
and empty, and cowardly ! I that have lived boldly can surely die as I
have lived ; " and once more resuming the attitude in which he had placed
himself at first, he clasped his hand tight over his eyes, as if to exclude
a painful sense of the light. In a moment or two the hand dropped ; but
his eyes remained closed ; and after a time, the exhausted lamps, which
had now been burning many hours, went out, and all was darkness !

The rumour which had given to the heart of Mary of Burgundy the
glad hope that Maximilian of Austria was already within her territories,
had deceived her ; and Hugh of Hannut, on arriving at Brussels, found
that his princely companion-in-arms was still far from that city. True to
the promise he had given, however — though all his own feelings would
have conducted him at once to the forest of Hannut, wherein he had led a
life of such adventure and interest, and to the mansion where her he loved
now dwelt, and in which his happiest days had been passed— he advanced
directly towards Cologne ," and not far on the hither side of the Rhine,
met the small party which accompanied the son of the emperor. It were
as tedious as an old chronicle to tell the joy of Maximilian at the coming
of his friend, or to detail all the efforts that were made by the Duke of
Cleves to deter or prevent the archduke from pursuing his journey towards

MARY OP BURGUNDY. 305

Ghent. The private information he had received, and the armed forca
which now accompanied him on his way, rendered all efforts either to
alarm or impede him vain ; and the rapid progress made by the French
arms had so convinced the people of Flanders that a single leader, whose
fortunes were linked for ever to that of the Princess of Burgundy, was
absolutely necessary to give vigour and direction to their efforts, that all
attempts to stir them up to oppose the alliance with the Austrian prince
would have been fruitless under any circumstances.

One event, however, had happened in the meantime, which completely
cooled throughout Flanders that ardour for innovation, and that desire of
democratic rule, which is one of the evils consequent upon every struggle
for increased liberty, whether just or unjust — the wild spray which the
waves of freedom cast beyond their legitimate bounds. The morning after
the return of Albert Maurice to Ghent, some of his attendants, finding
the door of his bedchamber open, entered, and discovered that he had
never been in bed ; and the alarm spreading, he was soon after found,
seated in the chair in which he had been writing, cold, stiff, and dead.

Of the letters which were cast upon the table before him, one was ad-
dressed to the princess, and one to Ms uncle ; and both distinctly alluded
to his intention of destroying himself. Left suddenly without a leader,
pressed by a powerful enemy, and encumbered with the management of a
state, all the springs and wheels of which they themselves had disarranged,
the people of Ghent began to ask themselves what they had gained by
pressing exaction and discontent beyond the mere recovery of their rights
and privileges. The simplest amongst them saw that they had gained no-
thing and lost much ; and the more clear-sighted discovered, that in
carrying their efforts beyond the straightforward object which they had
proposed at first, they had only made the government of the state an
object of contention to bold and ambitious party leaders — a race of men
who, for the purpose of success, must always necessarily prolong that con-
fusion and anarchy which is more baleful than the worst of tyrannies; and
who, when success is obtained, must end in tyranny, to uphold their power.

The very day that the death of Albert Maurice was discovered, intelli-
gence arrived that the armies of France, marching on from the side of
Cassel, had burned some villages within four leagues of Ghent ; and the
council of the states, confused, terrified, and surprised, without chief,
without union, and without resource, proceeded in a body to the palace,
and resigning at the feet of the princess the authority they had usurped,
demanded her orders and directions, in the imminent peril to which the
state was exposed. It was then that Mary of Burgundy made that famous
answer, which has been transmitted to us by almost every historian who
has mentioned her name ; but it was in sorrow, not in anger, that she
spoke ; and the tears were in her eyes, when- — after hearing the details of
a ruined country, an invaded territory, the rich harvests of Flanders
reaped by strange husbandmen while they were green, her frontier fortresses
taken, and her troops proving false — she replied to the subjects whose
turbulence and discontent had fostered, if not caused, all the evils they
recapitulated, — "You have banished my best friends, and slain my wisest
counsellors, and now what can I do to deliver you ?"

But misfortune had taught the people of Ghent their own errors, and ths
excellence of her they had so basely outraged. The news that the Arcb'-
iuke of Austria, the long-betrothed husband and the favoured lover oV
Mary of Burgundy, was advancing with rapid steps towards Ghent, spreas

306 MART OF BUEGUNDY.

as much joy through the city as if the tidings had been of some personal
good fortune to each individual citizen. The gates of Ghent were now no
longer guarded, except against the common enemy. The Duke of Cleves
quitted the city in haste ; and joy and satisfaction spread through all
ranks when the cavalcade which escorted the archduke wound on towards
the palace. It was remarked, however, that nearly five-hundred of the
horsemen who accompanied him— and those, surpassing all the rest in
military array and demeanour — were all adorned with a green scarf, while
the banner that floated over them bore the arms of Hannut — Argent a
green tree proper ; and. that the knight who led this band of elite, though
his beaver was now up, and his face exposed, was clothed from hand to
foot in the green armour of the Vert Gallant of Hannut.

Little more- requires to be said. It is well known to every one, how
gladly Mary of Burgundy herself saw the arrival of Maximilian.

Nor did the heart of Hugh de Hannut beat less highly, when, standing
beside his princely friend, he, too, claimed his fair bride, Alice of Imber-
court. Still, the dead were to be mourned, and many sorrows were to be
forgotten ; but they were sorrows which drew the hearts of the living
eloser together. A gleam of sunshine shone out at last upon the days of
the good old Lord of Hannut ; and casting from him the studies which —
fanciful or real — had soothed his griefs by occupying his mind, he passed
his latter years in rejoicing over the recovery of so noble and so dear a son.

On the nineteenth of August, 1477, Mary of Burgundy gave her hand
to Maximilian of Austria ; and the rich territories, which so many princes
had coveted, and for which France had played so base and subtle a game,
passed away into another house. The years of that fair princess herself
were few ; but when she gazed smiling upon her husband and her children
she was wont to thank God that she had aot looked into that fatal book
which might have given her an insight into her future destiny, and that
in the happiness of the present she could see no ill to be anticipated for
the future.

Alice of Imbercourt, soon after her marriage, retired from the city to
the dwelling of her husband's father ; and though her deep affection for
Mary of Burgundy still continued unabated, she never more made the
court her abode. When, at length, the fatal accident happened which
caused the death of her fair foster-sister, she flew eagerly to soothe her
couch of sickness ; but she never entertained for a moment those hopes of
recovery which all the others around indulged for several days. She it
was who prepared the mind of the archduke for the death of her he loved.
She closed her eyes, and then returned to her own dwelling, and resumed
the duties of her station.

The people of the country declared that Alice was not surprised by the
event which had occurred, being forewarned by the previous knowledge of
the future which she had obtained ; and the old writers assert, most
seriously, that the horoscope of Mary of Burgundy, as it was drawn at her
birth, was fulfilled to the most minute particular. As no one, however,
saw this horoscope but Alice of Imbercourt — at least before the latter
event of Mary's life took place — and as Alice carefully abstained from
ever mentioning the subject, it is more than probable that the love of the
marvellous, so prevalent in those days, adapted the prediction to the facts
long after they occurred.

London; Woodfall and Kinder. Printers. Milford Lane, Strand.

Sixth]

Routledge's Railway Library Advertiser.

[Issue-

SCHWEITZER'S

Anti-Dyspeptic Cocoa or Chocolate Powder.
GUARANTEED PURE SOLUBLE COCOA.

"SOCIETY" says : " THE QtfEEN invariably has a cup

of SCHWEITZER'S COCOATIMA brought to her bedside at 7.30;

and two hours later she drinks the same beverage at the breakfast-table."

The Lancet says this is "Genuine Cocoa, contains no sugar

starch or other adulteration. Is very soluble.

An excellent article."

HIGHLY NUTRITIOUS AND ECONOMICAL.

Sole Address, 45, Farringdon Street, London, E.C,

EADACHES
CURED

CITRATE OF CAFFEINE is now recognised
by the Medical Profession as the safest and
surest remedy for Sick Headaches.

BISHOP'S Granular,
Efferves-
cent.

CITRATE OF

CAFFEINE.

Price 38. 6d.

per Bottle,
Of all Chemists.

ALFRED BISHOP and SOHS, 48, Spelman Street, E.

ELLIN'S FOOD

FOR INFANTS AND INVALIDS.

For the Healthful Rearing of Hand-fei Children and
the Preservation of Infant Life, and for the Nourish-
ment of Invalids who cannot Digest Ordinary Food.
Entirely Soluble. Contains no Starch. Price Is. 6d,
and 2s. 6d. per bottle.

Pamphlet and sample post free on application.
Inventor and Manufacturer,

G. MELLIN, Marlboro' Works, Peckham,

LONDON, S

**

Sixth]

Routledge's Railway Library Advertiser.

[Issue.

NERVOUS EXHAUSTION

PULVEEMACHER'S WOBLD-PAMED GALVANIC BELTS,
for the cure of ITEavOTTS EXHAUSTION and DEBILITY, have
received Testimonials from Three Physicians to Her Majesty the
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including- Porty Members of the Royal College of Physicians of
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The distressing symptoms of NERVOUS EXHAUSTION and DE-
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Sir CHARLES LOCOCK, Bart, M.D., Physician to Her Majesty, says:
" PTJLVEEMACHEE'S BELTS are very effective in Neuralgia and Rheumatic.
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maladies, paralysis, etc.

For Full Price List and Particulars, see new PnmvWet, " GALVANISM .-

NATURE'S CSIMF RESTORER OF IMPAIRED VITAL ENERGY."

Post-free from

PULVERMACHERS GALVANIC DEPOT,

994, R.EGEWT STREET, LONDON, W.

(ESTABLISHED OVER 40 TEARS.)

QUININE

iHD

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SOLD EVERYWHERE.

Oreat Bodily Strength!
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SULPHOLINE

Use it always,
If you wish for
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Gives a Natural Tint,
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6d.

TABLETS

LOCKYER'S

SULPHUR

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SOLD EVERYWHERE

RESTOR

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Bottles sold
Everywhere.

The Cure for Skin Diseases.

Eruptions, Blotches, Eczema,
Acne, Disfigurements, g.

Makes the SKIN Clear, SmooL.a,
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Sixth]

Routledge's Railway Library Advertiser.

[Issue.

SPECIALTIES
FOR ALL

H.E.H. PRINCE

Albert's
Cachoux.

Sold by the principal Druggists,
Merchants, &c. , at Home and Abroad.

DAINTY MORSELS IN THE FORM

OF TI\Y SILVER BULLETS,

WHICH 11I3SOLVE IV THE MOUTH,

A3TD SURRENDER

TO THE BREATH THEIR HIDDEN

FRAGRANCE.

THE YEAR
ROUND.

At 6d-,

or by Post,

for 7d.

REGISTERED

JACKSON'S

CHINESE DIAMOMD <

CEMENT. h

Sold in Bottles

At 6d. and Is.,

Or by Post for

Is. 2d.

FOE mending every Article or Ornament of Furniture, China, Glass,
Earthenware, &e. It surpasses in neatness, in strength, and cheapness,
and retains its virtues in all climates. It has stood the test of time, and in
all quarters of the globe.

A RECENT TESTIMONIAL.

" I have fouc-d yonr Chinese Diamond Cement so pood for the repair of broken China,
Glass, etc., etc., that I wish you to send me a half-dozen od. bottles. I will Rive you one
ius'ance of the way in which it acts, and you can make what use yuu like of my letter. In
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it has been broken."

JACKSON'S

Benzine
Rect.

For taking out GBEASE, OIL, PATNT,
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It cleans admirably Kid Gloves and Satin
Slippers, Fans and Feathers, Books, Cards,
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At 6d., Is.,
and 2s. 6d.

Parcel Post,
3d. extra.

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For the removal of Hair without
a Razor, from the Arms, Neck, or
Face, as well as Sunburn or Tan.

The activity of this depilatory is notable.
It is easy and safe. It leaves a Whole Skin
and a Clean Complexion.

At Is.

By Post,

Is. 2d.

1889.

From the Laboratory of

THOMAS JACKSON,

Strangeways, MANCHESTER.

POSTAGE

for Abroad at

Letter Rate.

50,000, 8. & B.,23.10.88.

/^d%

Aa